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V.4 


THE  INDEPENDENCE   EDITION 

OF  THE 

WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

is  limited  to  five  hundred  numbered 
copies,  of  which  this  is 

No.  r 


CON 
CI 


THOAXAS  PAINE 

OKI'.      L.r 


iiPHI-N      ' 


THOMAS 
S    BY 

i-'AUL 


Photogravure  from  tjie  copy  py  J 
Pamtins   o*ii  John'  Weslei 


Boss,  Otis  of  the 


inling  by  John'  Wesley  Jarvis  "' 

This  portrait  shows  Paine  ill" the  priiric  of  life,  and  is 
considered  one  of  the  finest  Hkenesses  of  him.  The 
Bass  Otis  reproduction  hangs  in  Independence  Hall, 
Philadelphia. 


:OTATRD  BY 


;:r 


VINCENT  PARKJ    AND  COMPAN^ 

NEW    YORK 


r\ 


AND 


11 


MAS 


H3 


CONTAINING  A  BIOGRAPHY  BY  THOMAS 
CLIO  RICKMAN  AND  APPRECIATIONS  BY 
LESLIE  STEPHEN,  LORD  ERSKINE,  PAUL 
DESJARDINS,  ROBERT  G.  INGERSOLL, 
ELBERT  HUBBARD  AND  MARILLA  M.  RICKER 


EDITED  AND  ANNOTATED  BY 

DANIEL  EDWIN  WHEELER 


VINCENT  PARKE  AND  COMPANY 
NEW  YORK 


— » 


^^ 


COPYRIGHT,  190S,  BY 
VINCENT  PARKE  AND  COMPANY 


4 


Rights  of  Man 


BEING  AN 


ANSWER  TO  MRo  BURKE'S  ATTACK 


ON   THE 


IN  TWO   PARTS 


IV-2 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

To  George  Washington         -         -         -         -  ix 

Historical  Preface       -----  xi 

Preface  to  the  English  Edition  -         -         -  xv 

Preface  to  the  French  Edition  -         -         -  xxi 

Rights  of  Man,  Part  First     -         -         -         -  1 

Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Man  and  of 

Citizens  -         -         -         -         -         -         -136 

Observations  on  the  Declaration  of  Rights  141 

Miscellaneous  Chapter           -         -         -         -  146 

Conclusion     -         -         -         -         -         -         -189 

Rights  of  Man,  Part  Second          _         _         _  203 

To  M.  de  Lafayette       -----  205 

Preface  to  Rights  of  Man,  Part  Second       -  207 

Rights  of  Man,  Part  Second,  Introduction  -  219 

Chapter  I 226 

Of  Society  and  Civilization 

Chapter  II 235 

On    the    Origin   of    the   Present    Old    Gov- 
ernments 

Chapter  III 239 

Of  the  Old  and  New  Systems  of  Government 

Chapter  IV    ------         -  265 

On  Constitutions 

V 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Thomas  Paine         _         _         _         _  Frontispiece 

Photogravure  from  the  copy  by  Bass  Otis  of 
the  Original  Painting  by  John  Wesley 
Jarvis 

Edmund  Burke       ------       xx 

Photogravure  from  the  Original  Painting  by 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 

Marquis  de  Lafayette    -----     204 
Photogravure  from  the  Original  Painting 

George  Washington        -----     264< 
Photogravure  from  the  Original  Painting  by 
Gilbert  Stuart 


Vll 


TO 

GEORGE  WASHINGTON, 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 
SlR^ 

I  PRESENT  you  a  small  treatise  in  defense 
of  those  principles  of  freedom  which  your 
exemplary  virtue  hath  so  eminently  contributed 
to  establish.  That  the  Rights  of  INIan  may  be- 
come as  universal  as  your  benevolence  can  wish, 
and  that  you  may  enjoy  the  happiness  of  seeing 
the  New  World  regenerate  the  Old,  is  tb.e 
prayer  of 

Sir, 

Your  much  obliged,  and 
Obedient  humble  servant, 

THOMAS  PAINE. 


IX 


HISTORICAL  PREFACE 


THOMAS  PAINE,  author  of  the  "Rights 
of  Man,"  was  born  in  England  of  Quaker 
parents.  On  Frankhn's  representations  he  vis- 
ited North  America  in  1774,  and  at  Philadelphia 
edited  the  first  literary  magazine.  Just  at  the 
crisis  when  England  spurned  the  humble  peti- 
tioners and  breathed  only  war  and  revenge — 
when  the  first  large  armament  was  about  to  de- 
scend on  the  shores  of  the  defenseless  Colonies, 
and  when  all  persons  seriously  asked,  "What  can 
be  done?"  and  "What  shall  we  do?"  there  ap- 
peared a  small  pamphlet  from  the  pen  of  Thomas 
Paine  under  the  title  of  Common  Sense.  The 
effect  of  this  pamphlet  was  magical. 

The  people  had  only  ashed  for  redress  of 
grievances,  but  now  they  demanded  indepen- 
dence; and  in  the  same  year,  1776,  it  was  de- 
clared. Mr.  Paine  followed  this  pamphlet  up  by 
a  series  of  tracts  or  pamphlets  called  "The 
Crisis,"  and  signed  Common  Sense.  He  had 
the  merit  of  creating  a  public  opinion,  and  di- 
recting it  to  a  successful  issue. 

xi 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

In  1787  Mr.  Paine  returned  to  Europe,  and 
presented  to  the  scientific  bodies  of  France  and 
England  his  model  of  iron  bridges,  which  has 
since  been  adopted.  He  mixed  in  the  society  of 
the  leading  literary  and  political  men  of  both 
countries;  and  while  thus  situated,  the  elements 
of  the  first  French  Revolution  began  to  appear. 

Mr.  Paine  hastened  to  the  scene  of  action,  as 
an  intelligent  observer;  and  on  this  subject  be- 
came the  correspondent  of  Edmund  Burke,  then 
the  most  eloquent  man  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  the  champion  of  liberty. 

But  Mr.  Burke  was  at  that  time  a  secret  pen- 
sioner. He  had  stipulated  for  a  handsome  pen- 
sion for  himself,  for  his  wife  in  case  she  survived, 
and  for  his  family  after  their  death. 

This  pension  not  being  known  to  the  public 
at  that  time,  to  the  surprise  of  all,  the  eloquent 
Mr.  Burke  changed  his  principles,  and  from 
being  the  warm  supporter  of  America  in  her 
struggle  for  hberty,  and  the  champion  of  the 
early  efforts  of  the  French  in  their  revolution, 
he  became  the  enemy  of  that  revolution  and 
through  that  the  supporter  of  corruption  and  the 
friend  of  the  oppressor;  but  as  Mr.  Burke  took 
advantage  of  some  excesses  in  the  French  Revo- 
lution to  declare  his  change  of  opinion,  he  gave  a 
xii 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

coloring  to  this  change  which  deceived  even  his 
personal  friends. 

They  gave  him  credit  for  sincerity,  and  when 
lie  announced  his  great  work,  Burke's  "Reflec- 
tions on  the  French  Revolution,"  it  made  a  great 
impression  on  the  public  mind.  The  friends  of 
liberty  and  human  rights  in  both  Ireland  and 
England  were  mortified  at  the  defection  of  Mr. 
'Burke,  and  dejected  at  the  success  of  his  work, 
till  Mr.  Paine  announced  a  reply. 

That  reply  was  the  "Rights  of  Man,"  and 
popular  as  Mr.  Burke's  work  was  in  its  begin- 
ning, it  stood  no  chance  against  Mr.  Paine's. 
Where  a  thousand  copies  were  sold  of  the  one, 
ten  thousand  were  sold  of  the  other.  Mr.  Burke, 
before  the  publication  of  the  "Rights  of  Man," 
had  promised  a  rejoinder,  but  he  never  attempted 
it,  and  Mr.  Paine,  after  waiting  a  long  time,  pub- 
lished his  Second  Part.* 

The  present  work  contains  both;  it  is  Mr. 
Paine's  chef  d'  oeuvre  in  politics.  He  has  given 
it  on  a  broad  basis  of  principle.    It  is  a  conden- 

*  The  first  part  of  the  "  Rights  of  Man  "  was  published  by  Mr. 
Jordan,  No.  166  Fleet  Street,  London,  on  the  13th  of  March,  1791, 
and  the  second  part  on  the  16th  of  February,  1792.  The  offer 
of  £1,000  for  the  copyright  of  the  second  part  by  Mr.  Chapman, 
the  printer,  was  probably  inspired  by  the  English  Government, 
which  strove  to  suppress  the  work,  and  this  offer  was  promptly 
declined  by  Mr.  Paine,  who  wrote  for  the  benefit  of  mankind  and 
not  for  pecuniary  reward, — Ed. 

xiii 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

sation  of  sound  political  principles,  applicable  at 
all  times,  besides  being  a  reminiscence  of  Eng- 
land and  France  at  those  stirring  times. 

The  work  had  an  immense  run  and  influence, 
and  as  it  could  not  be  bought  up,  it  was  honored 
with  a  series  of  prosecutions  by  the  British  Gov- 
ernment; but  the  same  work  produced  for  Mr. 
Paine  an  election  to  the  French  Convention  from 
three  different  places,  and  the  highest  honors 
were  awarded  him  on  his  landing  at  Calais. 

The  "Rights  of  Man"  has  now  become  a 
standard  work,  and  as  such  is  presented  to  the 
American  public. 


XIV 


PREFACE 
TO  THE  ENGLISH  EDITION* 


FROM  the  part  Mr.  Burke  took  in  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution,  it  was  natural  that  I 
should  consider  him  a  friend  to  mankind ;  and  as 
our  acquaintance  commenced  on  that  ground,  it 
would  have  been  more  agreeable  to  me  to  have 
had  cause  to  continue  in  that  opinion,  than  to 
change  it. 

At  the  time  Mr.  Burke  made  his  violent 
speech  last  winter  in  the  English  Parliament 
against  the  French  Revolution  and  the  National 
Assembly,  I  was  in  Paris,  and  had  written  to  him 
but  a  short  time  before,  to  inform  him  how  pros- 
perously matters  were  going  on.  Soon  after  this, 
I  saw  his  advertisement  of  the  pamphlet  he  in- 
tended to  i^ublish. 

*  This  preface,  which  ajjpeared  in  the  original  edition  of  the 
•'  Rights  of  Man,"  published  in  1791,  by  J.  S.  Jordan,  166  Fleet 
Street,  London,  and  also  in  subsequent  English  editions,  has  been 
usually  excluded  from  all  the  American  editions  of  Paine's  works. 
As  it  gives  Mr.  Paine's  reasons  for  writing  the  volume,  and  ex- 
plains the  circumstances  which  induced  him  to  reply  to  Mr. 
Burke's  sinister  attack  on  the  French  Revolution,  it  is  deemed 
of  sufficient  importance  to  warrant  its  insertion  in  the  present 
edition,  which  is  an  exact  reproduction  of  the  original  edition, 
iinaltered  and  unabridged. — Ed. 

XV 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

As  the  attack  was  to  be  made  in  a  language 
but  little  studied,  and  less  understood,  in  France, 
and  as  everything  suffers  by  translation,  I  prom- 
ised some  of  the  friends  of  the  Revolution  in  that 
country,  that  whenever  Mr.  Burke's  pamphlet 
came  forth,  I  would  answer  it. 

This  appeared  to  me  the  more  necessary  to 
be  done,  when  I  saw  the  flagrant  misrepresenta- 
tions which  Mr.  Burke's  pamphlet  contains;  and 
that  while  it  is  an  outrageous  abuse  on  the  French 
Revolution,  and  the  principles  of  Liberty,  it  is  an 
imposition  on  the  rest  of  the  world. 

I  am  the  more  astonished  and  disappointed  at 
this  conduct  of  Mr.  Burke,  as  (from  the  circum- 
stance I  am  going  to  mention),  I  had  formed 
other  expectations. 

I  had  seen  enough  of  the  miseries  of  war  to 
wish  it  might  never  more  have  existence  in  the 
world,  and  that  some  other  mode  might  be  found 
out  to  settle  the  differences  that  should  occasion- 
ally arise  in  the  neighborhood  of  nations.  This 
certainly  might  be  done  if  courts  were  disposed 
to  set  honestly  about  it,  or  if  countries  were  en- 
lightened enough  not  to  be  made  the  dupes  of 
courts. 

The  people  of  America  had  been  bred  up 
in  the  same  prejudices  against  France,  which 
xvi 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

at  that  time  characterized  the  people  of  Eng- 
land; but  experience  and  an  acquaintance  with 
the  French  nation  have  most  effectually  shown 
to  the  Americans  the  falsehood  of  those  preju- 
dices ;  and  I  do  not  believe  that  a  more  cordial  and 
confidential  intercourse  exists  between  any  two 
countries  than  between  America  and  France. 

When  I  came  to  France,  in  the  spring  of 
1787,  the  Archbishop  of  Toulouse  was  then  Min- 
ister, and  at  that  time  highly  esteemed.  I  be- 
came much  acquainted  with  the  private  sec- 
retary of  that  Minister,  a  man  of  an  enlarged 
benevolent  heart;  and  found  that  his  sentiments 
and  my  own  perfectly  agreed  with  respect  to 
the  madness  of  war,  and  the  wretched  impohcy 
of  two  nations,  like  England  and  France,  con- 
tinually worrying  each  other,  to  no  other  end 
than  that  of  a  mutual  increase  of  burdens  and 
taxes.  That  I  might  be  assured  I  had  not  misun- 
derstood him,  nor  he  me,  I  put  the  substance  of 
our  opinions  into  writing,  and  sent  it  to  him; 
subjoining  a  request,  that  if  I  should  see  among 
the  people  of  England  any  disposition  to  culti- 
vate a  better  understanding  between  the  two 
nations  than  had  hitherto  prevailed,  how  far  I 
might  be  authorized  to  say  that  the  same  dispo- 
sition prevailed  on  the  part  of  France? 

xvii 


WRITES^GS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

He  answered  me  by  letter  in  the  most  unre- 
served manner,  and  that  not  for  himself  only,  but 
for  the  Minister,  with  whose  knowledge  the  let- 
ter was  declared  to  be  written. 

I  put  this  letter  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Burke 
almost  three  years  ago,  and  left  it  with  him, 
where  it  still  remains;  hoping,  and  at  the  same 
time  naturally  expecting,  from  the  opinion  I  had 
conceived  of  him,  that  he  would  find  some  oppor- 
tunity of  making  a  good  use  of  it,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  removing  those  errors  and  prejudices, 
which  two  neighboring  nations,  from  the  want  of! 
knowing  each  other,  had  entertained,  to  the  in- 
jury of  both. 

When  the  French  Revolution  broke  out,  it 
certainly  afforded  to  Mr.  Burke  an  opportunity 
of  doing  some  good,  had  he  been  disposed  to  it; 
instead  of  which,  no  sooner  did  he  see  the  old 
prejudices  wearing  away,  than  he  immediately 
began  sowing  the  seeds  of  a  new  inveteracy,  as 
if  he  were  afraid  that  England  and  France  would 
cease  to  be  enemies. 

That  there  are  men  in  all  countries  who  get 
their  living  by  war,  and  by  keeping  up  the  quar- 
rels of  nations,  is  as  shocking  as  it  is  true;  but 
when  those  who  are  concerned  in  the  government 
of  a  country,  make  it  their  study  to  sow  discord, 

xviii 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

and  cultivate  prejudices  between  nations,  it  be- 
comes the  more  unpardonable. 

With  respect  to  a  paragraph  in  this  work,  al- 
luding to  Mr.  Burke's  having  a  pension,  the  re- 
port has  been  some  time  in  circulation,  at  least 
two  months;  and  as  a  person  is  often  the  last  to 
hear  what  concerns  him  the  most  to  know,  I  have 
mentioned  it,  that  Mr.  Burke  may  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  contradicting  the  rumor,  if  he  thinks 
proper. 

THOMAS  PAINE. 


IV-3  XIX 


EDMUND  BURKE 

Photogravure  from  the  Original  Painting  by  Sir  Joshua 
Reynolds  in  the  Xational  Gallery,  London 


PREFACE 
TO  THE  FRENCH  EDITION* 


WE  may  regard  the  amazement  occasioned 
throughout  Europe  by  the  French  Rev- 
olution from  two  standpoints;  its  influence  on 
foreign  nations,  and  its  influence  on  foreign  gov- 
ernments. 

Every  country  in  Europe  considers  the  cause 
of  the  French  people  as  identical  with  the  cause 
of  its  own  people,  or  rather,  as  embracing  the 
interests  of  the  entire  world.  But  those  who  rule 
those  countries  do  not  entertain  quite  the  same 
opinion.  Now,  this  is  a  difference  to  which  we 
are  bound  to  give  the  deepest  attention.  The 
people  are  not  to  be  confounded  with  their 
government;  and  this  is  especially  the  case  when 
the  relation  of  the  English  Government  to  its 
people  is  considered. 

The  French  Revolution  has  no  more  bitter 
enemy  than  the  English  Government.  The  evi- 
dence of  its  ill-feeling  is  plain  to  every  eye;  wit- 

*  The  original  preface,  written  by  Paine  in  English,  is  lost. 
A  French  translation,  however,  of  which  the  following  is  a  version, 
appeared  in  Paris  in  May,  1791. 

xxi 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

ness  the  gratitude  expressed  by  the  Elector  of 
Hanover,  sometimes  styled  King  of  England, 
a  feeble  and  crazy  personage,  to  Mr.  Burke 
because  the  latter  has,  in  his  work,  grossly  libeled 
it,  and  also  the  slanderous  invectives  of  Mr.  Pitt, 
the  Prime  JNlinister,  in  his  parliamentary  har- 
angues. 

The  behavior  of  the  English  Government  in 
its  dealings  with  France  is  a  palpable  contradic- 
tion of  all  its  pretensions  of  amity,  however 
seemingly  candid,  and  proves  clearly  that  its  offi- 
cial expressions  of  regard  are  illusory,  that  its 
court  is  a  treacherous  court,  a  demented  court, 
which  is  a  prominent  factor  in  every  European 
plot  and  quarrel,  because  it  is  in  search  of  a  war 
that  will  serve  as  an  excuse  for  its  insane  pro- 
digality. 

But  the  people  of  England  are  actuated  by 
entirely  different  motives:  they  applaud  the 
French  Revolution,  and  are  anxious  for  the 
triumph  of  freedom  in  every  land;  when  they 
have  a  fuller  comprehension  of  the  plots  and 
stratagems  of  their  Government,  as  well  as  of  the 
principles  of  the  French  Revolution,  this  senti- 
ment will  become  general  and  intensified.  It 
would  be  well  for  French  citizens  to  understand 
that  the  British  journals,  even  when  not  actually 
xxii 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

subsidized  by  the  English  Government,  are 
always  controlled  by  its  influence.  Naturally, 
these  journals  continually  assail  the  French  Rev- 
olution and  give  an  entirely  false  idea  of  its 
aims,  solely  with  the  view  of  misleading  the  peo- 
ple of  England.  Truth,  however,  is  always  ulti- 
mately victorious,  and  so  the  mendacity  of  these 
newspapers  no  longer  produces  the  effect  in- 
tended. 

When  it  is  known  everywhere  that  the  Eng- 
lish Government  prosecutes  as  a  hbel  a  public 
statement  which  is  admittedly  true,  that  this  dic- 
tum, "The  greater  the  truth,  the  greater  the 
Hbel,"  is  a  legal  maxim,  constantly  applied  by  the 
judges,  it  ought  to  be  easy  to  satisfy  the  world 
that  truth  has  always  been  suppressed  in  Eng- 
land. This  insult  to  public  morals  has  received 
the  name  of  law^  and  there  are  vicious  judges 
who  actually  sentence  truth  to  punishment. 

The  spectacle  at  present  afforded  by  the  Eng- 
lish Government  is  sufficiently  strange:  it  per- 
ceives that  the  ill  feeling  which  once  existed  be- 
tween the  French  and  English  peoples,  and 
which  brought  poverty  and  misfortune  to  both, 
is  gradually  fading  away,  so  now  it  is  looking 
in  other  directions  for  an  enemj'',  because  it  will 
have  no  excuse  for  its  enormous  revenue  and  tax- 

xxiii 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

ation,  except  it  can  prove  that,  somewhere  or 
other,  it  has  enemies. 

As  France,  then,  has  decHned  to  be  an  ad- 
versary of  England,  the  Government  of  that 
country  has  no  resource  but  in  the  supposed  hos- 
tiHty  of  Russia.  Apparently,  it  is  communing 
with  itself  in  some  such  fashion  as  this:  "Should 
no  nation  show  me  sufficient  kindness  as  to  en- 
gage in  hostilities  against  me,  then  fleets  and 
armies  will  not  be  needed,  and  I  shall  be  com- 
pelled to  consent  to  a  reduction  of  taxation.  The 
war  with  America  gave  me  an  excuse  for 
doubling  my  taxes ;  the  affair  with  Holland  con- 
tributed to  the  same  purpose ;  that  absurd  Nootka 
business  enabled  me  to  collect  three  million 
pounds  sterling.  Times  have  changed,  and  un- 
less I  have  a  war  with  Russia,  the  taxation  har- 
vest for  wars  cannot  be  reaped.  I  played  the 
chief  role  in  egging  on  the  Turks  against  the 
Russians;  I  think  my  present  attitude  will  have 
the  result  of  reaping  another  taxation  harvest." 

But  for  the  fact  that  the  devastation  and 
misery  which  a  war  inflicts  on  a  country  restrain 
every  tendency  to  gaiety,  and  must  inspire  every- 
one with  sorrow  rather  than  with  merriment,  the 
insane  conduct  of  the  English  Government 
would  only  be  a  subject  for  mockery.  But  no 
xxiv 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

one  can  regard  with  unconcern  the  sufferings 
that  must  necessarily  spring  from  such  a  wicked 
pohcy.  Moreover,  it  would  be  as  absurd  to  argue 
rationally  with  the  sorts  of  goverimients  that 
have  existed  for  centuries  as  it  would  be  to  argue 
with  dumb  animals.  Whatever  reforms  are  ac- 
complished can  only  be  accomplished  by  the  na- 
tions, independent  of  their  governments.  It  is  at 
the  present  time  pretty  certain  that  the  peoples 
of  France,  England  and  America,  who  are  at 
once  enlightened  and  enlightening,  will  be  able 
in  the  future  to  serve  as  models  of  good  govern- 
ment to  the  universe  and  will  also  have  sufficient 
influence  to  compel  the  practical  enforcement  of 
it  everywhere. 


XXV 


RIGHTS  OF  MAN 


PART   FIRST. 

AIMONG  the  incivilities  by  which  nations  or 
individuals  provoke  and  irritate  each  other, 
Mr.  Burke's  pamphlet  on  the  French  Revolu- 
tion is  an  extraordinary  instance.  Neither  the 
people  of  France,  nor  the  National  Assembly, 
were  troubling  themselves  about  thp  affairs  of 
England,  or  the  English  Parliament;  and  that 
Mr.  Burke  should  commence  an  unprovoked  at- 
tack upon  them,  both  in  Parliament  and  in  pub- 
lic, is  a  conduct  that  cannot  be  pardoned  on  the 
score  of  manners,  nor  justified  on  that  of  policy. 
There  is  scarcely  an  ej)ithet  of  abuse  to  be 
found  in  the  English  language,  with  which  Mr. 
Burke  has  not  loaded  the  French  nation  and  the 
National  Assembly.  Every  thing  which  rancor, 
prejudice,  ignorance,  or  knowledge  could  sug- 
gest, are  poured  forth  in  the  copious  fury  of 
near  four  hundred  pages.  In  the  strain  and  on 
the  plan  Mr.  Burke  was  writing,  he  might  have 
written  on  to  as  many  thousands.  When  the 
tongue  or  the  pen  is  let  loose  in  a  frenzy  of  pas- 

1 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

sion,  it  is  the  man  and  not  the  subject  that  be- 
comes exhausted.* 

*  It  is  but  simple  justice  to  state  that  Burke's  work, 
"  Reflections  on  tiie  Revolution  in  France,"  (which  has  become 
nearly  obsolete,)  fully  deserves  this  caustic  criticism  of  Mr.  Paine. 

By  his  liberal  views  in  regard  to  the  American  Revolution, 
Mr.  Burke  won  the  confidence  of  the  friends  of  representative 
government  in  both  Europe  and  America,  but  when  he  became  a 
pensioner  of  the  British  Government,  and  advocated  the  despotic 
views  of  the  aristocratic  classes,  he  speedily  lost  the  influence  and 
consideration  he  had  previously  enjoyed. 

He  based  his  sophistical  argument  in  favor  of  hereditary  gov- 
ernment on  the  declaration  of  the  English  Parliament  of  1688  to 
William  and  Mary,  that — "  The  Lords  spiritual  and  temporal  and 
Commons,  do,  in  the  name  of  the  people  aforesaid,  most  humbly 
and  faithfully  submit  themselves,  their  heirs  and  posterity  for- 
ever,"— as  though  any  people  or  parliament  had  the  right  or 
power  to  restrict,  curtail,  and  control  through  succeeding  ages  the 
natural  and  inalienable  rights  and  liberties  of  unborn  millions. 
And,  apparently  not  satisfied  with  this  outrageous  sophism,  Mr. 
Burke  further  contends  that  the  English  people  would  take  up 
arms  to  perpetuate  this  aristocratic  system  of  usurpation  forever. 

Mr.  Paine  contends  that  Burke  never  thoroughly  understood 
the  French  Revolution,  which  excited  his  astonishment ;  "  but," 
says  Paine,  "  it  is  no  more  than  the  consequence  of  a  mental 
revolution  previously  existing  in  France.  The  mind  of  the  nation 
had  changed  beforehand,  and  the  new  order  of  things  had  natur- 
ally followed  the  new  order  of  thoughts."  These  thoughts  are  to 
be  foimd  "  in  the  writing  of  the  French  philosophers  during  these 
periods,"  and  he  mentions  Montesquieu,  Voltaire,  Rousseau,  the 
Abbe  Raynal,  Quesnay,  Turgot,  and  their  friends,  as  prominent 
revolutionary  writers; — and  to  their  works  may  be  added  the 
political  writings  of  Paine,  Jefferson,  Franklin,  and  others  in 
favor  of  representative  government  during  and  preceding  the 
American  Revolution. 

Several  of  the  reforms  advocated  by  Mr.  Paine  were  adopted 
by  the  English  Government  on  the  first  appearance  of  the  "  Rights 
of  Man,"  and  the  beneficent  influence  of  this  great  work  is  still 
apparent  at  the  present  day.  The  subject  of  graduated  taxation, 
— the  attempt  to  lift  the  burden  of  taxation  from  the  shoulders 
of  the  laboring  classes  and  place  it  upon  the  wealthy  members 
of  the  community  where  it  really  belongs, — ^may  serve  as  an  Ulus- 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

Hitherto  Mr.  Burke  has  been  mistaken  and 
disappointed  in  the  opinions  he  had  formed  of 
the  affairs  of  France;  but  such  is  the  ingenuity 
of  his  hope,  or  the  malignancy  of  his  despair,  that 
it  furnishes  him  with  new  pretenses  to  go  on. 
There  was  a  time  when  it  was  impossible  to  make 
Mr.  Burke  believe  there  would  be  any  revolution 
in  France.  His  opinion  then  was,  that  the 
French  had  neither  spirit  to  undertake  it,  nor  for- 
titude to  support  it ;  and  now  that  there  is  one,  he 
seeks  an  escape  by  condemning  it. 

Not  sufficiently  content  with  abusing  the  Na- 
tional Assembly,  a  great  part  of  his  work  is  taken 
up  with  abusing  Dr.  Price  (one  of  the  best- 
hearted  men  that  lives),  and  the  two  societies  in 
England  known  by  the  name  of  the  Revolution 
Society,  and  the  Society  for  Constitutional  In- 
formation. 

Dr.  Price  had  preached  a  sermon  on  the  4th 

tration  of  the  fact.  This  measure,  so  ably  advocated  by  Mr. 
Paine,  has  met  the  approval  of  many  prominent  political  writers 
of  the  present  day,  who  now  echo  with  great  volubility  and  appar- 
ent originality  the  views  advanced  by  Thomas  Paine  over  one 
hundred  years  ago. 

The  world  is  undoubtedly  indebted  to  Mr.  Edmund  Burke  for 
the  appearance  of  Paine's  "  Riglits  of  Man."  Burke's  ill-advised 
attack  on  the  principles  of  the  French  Revolution  was  unques- 
tionably the  active,  inciting  cause — the  impelling  motive — for  the 
appearance  of  Paine's  greatest  and  grandest  work;  and  for  this 
reason,  if  for  no  other,  the  paid  hireling  of  British  aristocracy — 
the  talented,  the  eloquent,  but  weak  and  vacillating  Burke — de- 
serves at  least  our  pity  and  remembrance. — Ed. 

3 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

of  November,  1789,  being  the  anniversary  of 
what  is  called  in  England  the  Revolution,  which 
took  place  in  1688.  Mr.  Burke,  speaking  of  this 
sermon,  says,  "The  political  divine  proceeds  dog- 
matically to  assert  that,  by  the  principles  of  the 
Revolution,  the  people  of  England  have  acquired 
three  fundamental  rights : 

"1.     To  choose  our  own  governors, 
"2.     To  cashier  them  for  misconduct. 
"3.     To  frame  a  government  for  ourselves." 
Dr.  Price  does  not  say  that  the  right  to  do 
these  things  exists  in  this  or  in  that  person,  or  in 
this  or  in  that  description  of  persons,  but  that  it 
exists  in  the  whole;  that  it  is  a  right  resident 
in  the  nation. — Mr.  Burke,  on  the  contrary,  de- 
nies that  such  a  right  exists  in  the  nation,  either 
in  whole  or  in  part,  or  that  it  exists  any  where; 
and,  what  is  still  more  strange  and  marvelous,  he 
says,  "that  the  people  of  England  utterly  dis- 
claim such  a  right,  and  that  tl^ey  will  resist  the 
practical  assertion  of  it  with  their  lives  and  for- 
tunes." 

That  men  should  take  up  arms,  and  spend 
their  lives  and  fortunes,  not  to  maintain  their 
rights,  but  to  maintain  they  have  not  rights, 
is  an  entirely  new  species  of  discovery,  and  suited 
to  the  paradoxical  genius  of  Mr.  Burke. 
4 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

The  method  which  Mr.  Burke  takes  to  prove 
that  the  people  of  England  have  no  such  rights, 
and  that  such  rights  do  not  now  exist  in  the  na- 
tion, either  in  whole  or  in  part,  or  any  where  at 
all,  is  of  the  same  marvelous  and  monstrous  kind 
with  what  he  has  already  said ;  for  his  arguments 
are,  that  the  persons,  or  the  generation  of  per- 
sons, in  whom  they  did  exist,  are  dead,  and  with 
them  the  right  is  dead  also. 

To  prove  this,  he  quotes  a  declaration  made 
by  Parliament  about  a  hundred  years  ago,  to 
William  and  Mary,  in  these  words:  "The  Lords 
Spiritual  and  Temporal,  and  Commons,  do,  in 
the  name  of  the  people  aforesaid,"  (meaning  the 
people  of  England  then  living)  "most  humbly 
and  faithfully  submit  themselves,  their  heirs  and 
posterities,  for  ever.^'  He  also  quotes  a  clause 
of  another  act  of  Parliament  made  in  the  same 
reign,  the  terms  of  which,  he  says,  "bind  us," 
(meaning  the  people  of  that  day)  "our  heirs  and 
our  posterity,  to  them,  their  heirs  and  posterity, 
to  the  end  of  time." 

Mr.  Burke  conceives  his  point  sufficiently  es- 
tablished by  producing  these  clauses,  which  he 
enforces  by  saying  that  they  exclude  the  right  of 
the  nation  for  ever.  And  not  yet  content  with 
making  such  declarations,  repeated  over  and  over 

5 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

again,  he  further  says,  "that  if  the  people  of 
England  possessed  such  a  right  before  the  Revo- 
lution," (which  he  acknowledges  to  have  been 
the  case,  not  only  in  England  but  throughout 
Europe,  at  an  early  period,)  "  yet  that  the  Eng- 
lish nation  did,  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution, 
most  solemnly  renounce  and  abdicate  it,  for  them- 
selves, and  for  all  their  posterity,  for  ever." 

As  Mr.  Burke  occasionally  applies  the  poison 
drawn  from  his  horrid  principles,  not  only  to  the 
English  nation,  but  to  the  French  Revolution 
and  the  National  Assembly,  and  charges  that 
august,  illuminated  and  illuminating  body  of 
men  with  the  epithet  of  usurpers,  I  shall,  sans 
ceremonies  place  another  system  of  principles  in 
opposition  to  his. 

The  Enghsh  ParHament  of  1688  did  a  cer- 
tain thing,  which,  for  themselves  and  their  con- 
stituents, they  had  a  right  to  do,  and  which  it 
appeared  right  should  be  done :  But,  in  addition 
to  this  right,  which  they  possessed  by  delegation, 
they  set  up  another  right  by  assumption,  that  of 
binding  and  controlling  posterity  to  the  end  of 
time. 

The  case,  therefore,  divides  itself  into  two 
parts;  the  right  which  they  possessed  by  delega- 
tion, and  the  right  which  they  set  up  by  assump- 
.6 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

tion.    The  first  is  admitted;  but  with  respect  to 
the  second,  I  reply: — 

There  never  did,  there  never  will,  and  there 
never  can  exist  a  parliament,  or  any  description 
of  men,  or  any  generation  of  men,  in  any  coun- 
try, possessed  of  the  right  or  the  power  of  bind-1/^ 
ing  and  controlling  posterity  to  the  ''end  of 
time/*  or  of  commanding  forever  how  the  world 
shall  be  governed,  or  who  shall  govern  it;  and 
therefore,  all  such  clauses,  acts  or  declarations, 
by  which  the  makers  of  them  attempt  to  do  what 
they  have  neither  the  right  nor  the  power  to  do, 
nor  the  power  to  execute,  are  in  themselves  null 
and  void. 

"  Every  age  and  generation  must  be  as  free  to 
act  for  itself,  in  all  cases ,  as  the  ages  and  genera- 
tion which  preceded  it.  The  vanity  and  pre- 
sumption of  governing  beyond  the  grave,  is  the 
most  ridiculous  and  insolent  of  all  tyrannies. 

Man  has  no  property  in  man;  neither  has 
any  generation  a  property  in  the  generations 
which  are  to  follow.  The  Parliament  or  the  peo- 
ple of  1688,  or  of  any  other  period,  had  no  more 
right  to  dispose  of  the  people  of  the  present  day, 
or  to  bind  or  to  control  them  in  any  shape  what- 
ever, than  the  Parliament  or  the  people  of  the 
present  day  have  to  dispose  of,  bind,  or  control 

7 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

those  who  are  to  live  a  hundred  or  a  thousand 
years  hence. 

Every  generation  is,  and  must  be,  competent 
to  all  the  purposes  which  its  occasions  require.  It 
Y-  is  the  living,  and  not  the  dead,  that  are  to  be 
accommodated.  When  man  ceases  to  be,  his 
power  and  his  wants  cease  with  him ;  and  having 
no  longer  any  participation  in  the  concerns  of 
this  world,  he  has  no  longer  any  authority  in 
directing  who  shall  be  its  governors,  or  how  its 
government  shall  be  organized,  or  how  admin- 
istered. 

I  am  not  contending  for  nor  against  any 
form  of  government,  nor  for  nor  against  any 
party  here  or  elsewhere.  That  which  a  whole 
nation  chooses  to  do,  it  has  a  right  to  do.  Mr. 
Burke  says,  No.  Where  then  does  the  right 
exist?  I  am  contending  for  the  rights  of  the  liv- 
f^  ing,  and  against  their  being  willed  away,  and 
controlled  and  contracted  for,  by  the  manuscript 
assumed  authority  of  the  dead ;  and  Mr.  Burke  is 
contending  for  the  authority  of  the  dead  over  the 
rights  and  freedom  of  the  living. 

There  was  a  time  when  kings  disposed  of  their 
crowns  by  wiU  upon  their  death-beds,  and  con- 
signed the  people,  hke  beasts  of  the  field,  to  what- 
ever successor  they  appointed.  This  is  now  so 
8 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

exploded  as  scarcely  to  be  remembered,  and  so 
monstrous  as  hardly  to  be  believed.  But  the  par- 
liamentary clauses  upon  which  Mr.  Burke  builds 
his  political  church,  are  of  the  same  nature. 

The  laws  of  every  country  must  be  analogous 
to  some  common  principle.  In  England,  no  par- 
ent or  master,  nor  all  the  authority  of  Parlia- 
ment, omnipotent  as  it  has  called  itself,  can  bind 
or  control  the  personal  freedom  even  of  an  indi- 
vidual beyond  the  age  of  twenty-one  years.  On 
what  ground  of  right,  then,  could  the  Parlia- 
ment of  1688,  or  any  other  parhament,  bind 
all  posterity  for  ever? 
4;..  Those  who  have  quitted  the  world,  and  those 
who  are  not  yet  arrived  at  it,  are  as  remote  from 
each  other,  as  the  utmost  stretch  of  moral  imagin- 
ation can  conceive.  What  possible  obligation, 
then,  can  exist  between  them;  what  rule  or  prin- 
ciple can  be  laid  down,  that  two  nonentities,  the 
one  out  of  existence,  and  the  other  not  in,  and 
who  never  can  meet  in  this  world,  that  the  one 
should  control  the  other  to  the  end  of  time? 

In  England,  it  is  said  that  money  cannot  be 
taken  out  of  the  pockets  of  the  people  without 
their  consent.  But  who  authorized,  or  who  could 
authorize  the  Parhament  of  1688  to  control  and 
take  away  the  freedom  of  posterity,  and  limit  and 

IV-4.5  9 


-f 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

confine  their  right  of  acting  in  certain  cases  for 
ever,  who  were  not  in  existence  to  give  or  to  with- 
hold their  consent? 

A  greater  absurdity  cannot  present  itself  to 
the  understanding  of  man,  than  what  Mr.  Burke 
offers  to  his  readers.  He  tells  them,  and  he  tells 
the  world  to  come,  that  a  certain  body  of  men, 
who  existed  a  hundred  years  ago,  made  a 
law;  and  that  there  does  not  now  exist  in  the  na- 
tion, nor  ever  will,  nor  ever  can,  a  power  to  alter 
it.  Under  how  many  subtilties,  or  absurdities, 
has  the  divine  right  to  govern  been  imposed  on 
the  credulity  of  mankind! 

Mr.  Burke  has  discovered  a  new  one,  and  he 
has  shortened  his  journey  to  Rome,  by  appealing 
to  the  power  of  this  infallible  Parliament  of 
former  days;  and  he  produces  what  it  has  done, 
as  of  divine  authority;  for  that  power  must  cer- 
tainly be  more  than  human,  which  no  human 
power  to  the  end  of  time  can  alter. 

But  Mr.  Burke  has  done  some  service,  not 
to  his  cause,  but  to  his  country,  by  bringing  those 
clauses  into  public  view.  They  serve  to  demon- 
strate how  necessary  it  is  at  all  times  to  watch 
against  the  attempted  encroachment  of  power, 
and  to  prevent  its  running  to  excess. 

It  is  somewhat  extraordinary,  that  the  of- 
10 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

fense  for  which  James  II  was  expelled,  that  of 
setting  up  power  by  assumption,  should  be  re- 
acted, under  another  shape  and  form,  by  the  Par- 
liament that  expelled  him.  It  shows  that  the 
rights  of  man  were  but  imperfectly  understood 
at  the  Revolution ;  for  certain  it  is,  that  the  right 
which  that  Parliament  set  up  by  assumptiori  (for 
by  the  delegation  it  had  it  not,  and  could  not  have 
it,  because  none  could  give  it)  over  the  persons 
and  freedom  of  posterity  for  ever,  was  the  same 
tyrannical,  unfounded  kind  which  James  at- 
tempted to  set  up  over  the  Parliament  and  the 
nation,  and  for  which  he  was  expelled. 

The  only  difference  is,  (for  in  principle  they 
differ  not),  that  the  one  was  an  usurper  over 
the  living,  and  the  other  over  the  unborn;  and 
as  the  one  has  no  better  authority  to  stand  upon 
than  the  other,  both  of  them  must  be  equally 
null  and  void,  and  of  no  effect. 

From  what,  or  from  whence,  does  Mr.  Burke 
prove  the  right  of  any  human  power  to  bind  pos- 
terity for  ever?  He  has  produced  his  clauses ;  but 
he  must  produce  also  his  proofs  that  such  a  right 
existed,  and  show  how  it  existed.  If  it  ever  ex- 
isted, it  must  now  exist ;  for  whatever  appertains 
to  the  nature  of  man,  cannot  be  annihilated  by 
man. 

11 


/ 


^U 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

It  is  the  nature  of  man  to  die,  and  he  will 
continue  to  die  as  long  as  he  continues  to  be  born. 
But  Mr.  Burke  has  set  up  a  sort  of  political 
Adam,  in  whom  all  posterity  are  bound  for  ever; 
he  must  therefore  prove  that  his  Adam  possessed 
such  a  power,  or  such  a  right. 

The  weaker  any  cord  is,  the  less  it  will  bear 
to  be  stretched  and  the  worse  is  the  policy  to 
stretch  it,  unless  it  is  intended  to  break  it.  Had 
a  person  contemplated  the  overthrow  of  Mr. 
Burke's  positions,  he  would  have  proceeded  as 
Mr.  Burke  has  done.  He  would  have  magnified 
the  authorities,  on  purpose  to  have  called  the 
right  of  them  into  question;  and  the  instant  the 
question  of  right  was  started,  the  authorities  must 
have  been  given  up. 

It  requires  but  a  very  small  glance  of  thought 
to  perceive,  that  although  laws  made  in  one  gen- 
eration often  continue  in  force  tlirough  succeed- 
ing generations,  yet  they  continue  to  derive  their 
force  from  the  consent  of  the  living.  A  law  not 
repealed  continues  in  force,  not  because  it  cannot 
be  repealed,  but  because  it  is  not  repealed;  and 
the  non-repealing  passes  for  consent. 

But  Mr.  Burke's  clauses  have  not  even  this 
qualification  in  their  favor.  They  become  null, 
by  attempting  to  become  immortal.    The  nature 

12 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

of  them  precludes  consent.  They  destroy  the 
right  which  they  might  have,  hy  grounding  it  on 
a  right  which  they  cannot  have.  Immortal  power 
j  is  not  a  human  right,  and  therefore  cannot  be  a 
right  of  Parliament. 

The  Parliament  of  1688  might  as  well  have 
passed  an  act  to  have  authorized  themselves  to 
live  for  ever  as  to  make  their  authority  to 
live  for  ever.  All  therefore  that  can  be  said  of 
them  is,  that  they  are  a  formality  of  words,  of 
as  much  import,  as  if  those  who  used  them  had 
addressed  a  congratulation  to  themselves,  and  in 
the  oriental  style  of  antiquity,  had  said,  O  Par- 
liament, live  for  ever ! 

The  circumstances  of  the  world  are  con- 
tinually changing,  and  the  opinions  of  men 
change  also ;  and  as  government  is  for  the  hving, 
and  not  for  the  dead,  it  is  the  living  only  that  has 
any  right  in  it.  That  which  may  be  thought  right 
and  found  convenient  in  one  age,  may  be  thought 
wrong  and  found  inconvenient  in  another.  In 
Y^  such  cases,  who  is  to  decide,  the  living,  or  the 
dead? 

As  almost  one  hundred  pages  of  Mr.  Burke's 
book  are  employed  upon  these  clauses,  it  will  con- 
sequently follow,  that  if  the  clauses  themselves, 
so  far  as  they  set  up  on  assumed^  usurped  domin- 

13 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

ion  over  posterity  for  ever,  are  unauthoritative, 
and  in  their  nature  null  and  void;  that  all  his 
voluminous  inferences,  and  declamation  drawn 
therefrom,  or  founded  thereon,  are  null  and  void 
also:  and  on  this  ground  I  rest  the  matter. 

We  now  come  more  particularly  to  the  af- 
fairs of  France.  Mr.  Burke's  book  has  the  ap- 
pearance of  being  written  as  instruction  to  the 
French  nation;  but  if  I  may  permit  myself  the 
use  of  an  extravagant  metaphor,  suited  to  the 
extravagance  of  the  case,  it  is  darkness  attempt- 
ing to  illuminate  light. 

While  I  am  writing  this,  there  are  acci- 
dentally before  me  some  proposals  for  a  declara- 
tion of  rights  by  the  Marquis  de  la  Fayette  (I 
ask  his  pardon  for  using  his  former  address,  and 
do  it  only  for  distinction's  sake)  to  the  National 
Assembly,  on  the  11th  of  July,  1789,  three  days 
before  the  taking  of  the  Bastille,  and  I  cannot 
but  be  struck  by  observing  how  opposite  the 
sources  are  from  which  that  gentleman  and  Mr. 
Burke  draw  their  principles. 

Instead  of  referring  to  musty  records  and 
moldy  parchments  to  prove  that  the  rights  of  the 
living  are  lost,  "renounced  and  abdicated  for 
ever,"  by  those  who  are  now  no  more,  as  Mr. 
[Burke  has  done,  M.  de  la  Fayette  applies  to  the 

U 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

living  world,  and  emphatically  says: — "  Call  to 
mind  the  sentiments  which  nature  has  engraved 
in  the  heart  of  every  citizen,  and  which  take  a 
new  force  when  they  are  solemnly  recognized  by 
all:  For  a  nation  to  love  liberty,  it  is  sufficient 
that  she  knows  it;  and  to  be  free,  it  is  sufficient 
that  she  wiUs  it." 

How  dry,  barren,  and  obscure  is  the  source 
from  which  Mr.  Burke  labors !  and  how  ineffect- 
ual, though  gay  with  flowers,  are  all  his  declama- 
tion and  his  argument,  compared  with  these  clear, 
concise,  and  soul-animating  sentiments  1  Few 
and  short  as  they  are,  they  lead  on  to  a  vast  field 
of  generous  and  manly  thinking,  and  do  not  fin- 
ish,, hke  ]Mr.  Burke's  periods,  with  music  in  the 
ear,  and  nothing  in  the  heart. 

As  I  have  introduced  M.  de  la  Fayette,  I  will 
take  the  liberty  of  adding  an  anecdote  respecting 
his  farewell  address  to  the  Congress  of  America 
in  1783,  and  which  occurred  fresh  to  my  mind, 
when  I  saw  Mr.  Burke's  thundering  attack  on 
the  French  Revolution. 

M.  de  la  Fayette  went  to  America  at  an  early 
period  of  the  war,  and  continued  a  volunteer  in 
her  service  to  the  end.  His  conduct  tln-ough  the 
whole  of  that  enterprise  is  one  of  the  most  ex- 
traordinary that  is  to  be  found  in  the  history  of! 

15 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

a  young  man,  scarcely  twenty  years  of  age. 

Situated  in  a  country  that  was  like  the  lap 
of  sensual  pleasure,  and  with  the  means  of  en- 
joying it,  how  few  are  there  to  be  found  who 
would  exchange  such  a  scene  for  the  woods  and 
wilderness  of  America,  and  pass  the  flowery 
years  of  youth  in  unprofitable  danger  and  hard- 
ship; but  such  is  the  fact. 

When  the  war  ended,  and  he  was  on  the  point 
of  taking  his  final  departure,  he  presented  him- 
self to  Congress,  and  contemplating,  in  liis  af- 
fectionate farewell,  the  Revolution  he  had  seen, 
expressed  himself  in  these  words:  ''May  this 
great  monument^  raised  to  Liberty ^  serve  as  a 
lesson  to  the  oppressor,  and  an  example  to  the 
oppressed! " 

When  this  address  came  to  the  hands  of  Dr. 
Franklin,  who  was  then  in  France,  he  applied  to 
Count  Vergennes,  to  have  it  inserted  in  the 
French  Gazette,  but  never  could  obtain  his  con- 
sent. The  fact  was,  that  Count  Vergennes  was 
an  aristocratical  despot  at  home,  and  dreaded  the 
example  of  the  American  Revolution  in  France, 
as  certain  other  persons  now  dread  the  example 
of  the  French  Revolution  in  England;  and  ^Ir. 
Burke's  tribute  of  fear,  (for  in  this  light  his 
book  must  be  considered)  runs  parallel  with 
16 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

Count  Vergennes'  refusal.    But,  to  return  more 
particularly  to  his  work. — 

"We  have  seen,"  says  Mr.  Burke,  "the 
French  rebel  against  a  mild  and  lawful  monarch, 
with  more  fury,  outrage,  and  insult,  than  any 
people  has  been  known  to  rise  against  the  most 
illegal  usurper,  or  the  most  sanguinary  tyrant." 
This  is  one  among  a  thousand  other  instances,  in 
which  ^Ir.  Burke  shows  that  he  is  ignorant  of  the 
springs  and  principles  of  the  French  Revolution. 

It  was  not  against  Louis  XVI,  but  against 
the  despotic  principles  of  the  government,  that 
the  nation  revolted.  These  principles  had  not 
their  origin  in  him,  but  in  the  original  establish- 
ment, many  centuries  back;  and  they  were  be- 
come too  deeply  rooted  to  be  removed,  and  the 
Augean  stable  of  parasites  and  plunderers  too 
abominably  filthy  to  be  cleansed,  by  anything 
short  of  a  complete  and  universal  revolution. 

When  it  becomes  necessary  to  do  a  thing, 
the  w^hole  heart  and  soul  should  go  into  the 
measure,  or  not  attempt  it.  That  crisis  was  then 
arrived,  and  there  remained  no  choice  but  to  act 
with  determined  vigor,  or  not  to  act  at  all. 

The  King  was  known  to  be  the  friend  of  the 
nation,  and  this  circumstance  was  favorable  to 
the  enterprise.    Perhaps  no  man  bred  up  in  the 

17 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

style  of  an  absolute  king,  ever  possessed  a  heart 
so  little  disposed  to  the  exercise  of  that  species 
of  power  as  the  present  King  of  France. 

But  the  principles  of  the  government  itself 
still  remained  the  same.  The  monarch  and  the 
monarchy  were  distinct  and  separate  things;  and 
it  was  against  the  established  despotism  of  the 
latter,  and  not  against  the  person  or  principles  of 
the  former,  that  the  revolt  commenced,  and  the 
Revolution  has  been  carried. 

Mr.  Burke  does  not  attend  to  the  distinction 
between  men  and  principles;  and  therefore,  he 
does  not  see  that  a  revolt  may  take  place  against 
the  despotism  of  the  latter,  while  there  lies  no 
charge  of  despotism  against  the  former. 

The  natural  moderation  of  Louis  XVI  con- 
tributed nothing  to  alter  the  hereditary  despotism 
of  the  monarchy.  All  the  tyrannies  of  the  for- 
mer reigns,  acted  under  that  hereditary  despot- 
ism, were  still  liable  to  be  revived  in  the  hands  of 
a  successor.  It  was  not  the  respite  of  a  reign 
that  would  satisfy  France,  enlightened  as  she 
was  then  become. 

A  casual  discontinuance  of  the  practise  of 
despotism,  is  not  a  discontinuance  of  its  prin- 
ciples; the  former  depends  on  the  virtue  of  the 
individual  who  is   in  immediate   possession   of 

18 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

power ;  the  latter,  on  the  virtue  and  fortitude  of 
the  nation.  In  the  case  of  Charles  I  and  James 
II  of  England,  the  revolt  was  against  the  per- 
sonal despotism  of  the  men;  whereas  in  France, 
it  was  against  the  hereditary  despotism  of  the 
estabhshed  government.  But  men  who  can  con- 
sign over  the  rights  of  posterity  for  ever,  on 
the  authority  of  a  moldy  parchment,  like  Mr. 
Burke,  are  not  qualified  to  judge  of  this  Revolu- 
tion. It  takes  in  a  field  too  vast  for  their  views 
to  explore,  and  proceeds  with  a  mightiness  of 
reason  they  cannot  keep  pace  with. 

But  there  are  many  points  of  view  in  which 
this  Revolution  may  be  considered.  When  des- 
potism has  established  itself  for  ages  in  a  coun- 
try, as  in  France,  it  is  not  in  the  person  of  the 
king  only  that  it  resides.  It  has  the  appearance 
of  being  so  in  show,  and  in  nominal  authority; 
but  it  is  not  so  in  practise,  and  in  fact.  It  has 
its  standard  everywhere. 

Every  office  and  department  has  its  despot- 
ism, founded  upon  custom  and  usage.  Every 
place  has  its  Bastille,  and  every  Bastille  its 
despot.  The  original  hereditary  despotism,  resi- 
dent in  the  person  of  the  king,  divides  and  sub- 
divides itself  into  a  thousand  shapes  and  forms, 
till  at  last  the  whole  of  it  is  acted  by  deputation. 

19 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

This  was  the  case  in  France ;  and  against  this 
species  of  despotism,  proceeding  on  through  an 
endless  labyrinth  of  office  till  the  source  of  it  is 
scarcely  perceptible,  there  is  no  mode  of  redress. 
It  strengthens  itself  by  assuming  the  appear- 
ance of  duty,  and  tyrannizes  under  the  pretense 
of  obeying. 

When  a  man  reflects  on  the  condition  which 
France  was  in  from  the  nature  of  her  govern- 
ment, he  will  see  other  causes  for  revolt  than 
those  which  immediately  connect  themselves  with 
the  person  or  character  of  Louis  XVI.  There 
were,  if  I  may  so  express  it,  a  thousand  despot- 
isms to  be  reformed  in  France,  which  had  grown 
up  under  the  hereditary  despotism  of  the  mon- 
archy, and  became  so  rooted  as  to  be  in  a  great 
measure  independent  of  it.  Between  the  mon- 
archy, the  parliament,  and  the  church,  there  was 
a  rivalsJiip  of  despotism;  besides  the  feudal  des- 
potism operating  locally,  and  the  ministerial 
despotism  operating  everywhere. 

But  Mr.  Burke,  by  considering  the  King  as 
the  only  possible  object  of  a  revolt,  speaks  as  if 
France  was  a  village,  in  which  every  thing  that 
passed  must  be  known  to  its  commanding  officer, 
and  no  oppression  could  be  acted  but  what  he 
could  conveniently  control.  Mr.  Burke  might 
20 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

have  been  in  the  Bastille  his  whole  life,  as  well 
under  Louis  XVI  and  neither  the  one  nor  the 
other  have  known  that  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Burke 
existed.  The  despotic  principles  of  the  govern- 
ment were  the  same  in  both  reigns,  though  the 
dispositions  of  the  men  were  as  remote  as  tyr- 
anny and  benevolence. 

What  Mr.  Burke  considers  as  a  reproach  to 
the  French  Revolution,  (that  of  bringing  it  for- 
ward under  a  reign  more  mild  than  the  preced- 
ing ones),  is  one  of  its  highest  honors.  The 
revolutions  that  have  taken  place  in  other  Euro- 
pean countries,  have  been  excited  by  personal 
hatred.  The  rage  was  against  the  man,  and  he 
became  the  victim.  But,  in  the  instance  of 
France,  we  see  a  revolution  generated  in  the 
rational  contemplation  of  the  rights  of  man,  and 
distinguishing  from  the  beginning  between  per- 
sons and  principles. 

But  Mr.  Burke  appears  to  have  no  idea  of 
principles,  when  he  is  contemplating  govern- 
ments. "  Ten  years  ago,"  says  he,  "  I  could  have 
felicitated  France  on  her  having  a  government, 
without  inquiring  what  the  nature  of  that  gov- 
ernment was,  or  how  it  was  administered." 

Is  this  the  language  of  a  rational  man?  Is  it 
the  language  of  a  heart  feehng  as  it  ought  to  feel 

21 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

for  the  rights  and  happiness  of  the  human  race? 
On  this  ground,  Mr.  Burke  must  comphment 
every  government  in  the  world,  while  the  victims 
who  suffer  under  them,  whether  sold  into  slav- 
ery, or  tortured  out  of  existence,  are  wholly  for- 
gotten. 

It  is  power,  and  not  principles,  that  Mr. 
Burke  venerates;  and  under  this  abominable  de- 
pravity, he  is  disqualified  to  judge  between  them. 
Thus  much  for  his  opinion  as  to  the  occasion  of 
the  French  Revolution.  I  now  proceed  to  other 
considerations. 

I  know  a  point  in  America  called  Point-no- 
Point;  because  as  you  proceed  along  the  shore, 
gay  and  flowery  as  Mr.  Burke's  language,  it 
continually  recedes  and  presents  itself  at  a  dis- 
tance before  you ;  but  when  you  have  got  as  far  as 
you  can  go,  there  is  no  point  at  all.  Just  thus  it 
is  with  Mr.  Burke's  three  hundred  and  fifty-six 
pages.  It  is  therefore  difficult  to  reply  to  him. 
But  as  the  points  he  wishes  to  establish  may  be 
inferred  from  what  he  abuses,  it  is  in  his  para- 
doxes that  we  must  look  for  his  arguments. 

As  to  the  tragic  paintings  by  which  Mr. 
Burke  has  outraged  his  own  imagination,  and 
seeks  to  work  upon  that  of  his  readers,  they  are 
very  well  calculated  for  theatrical  representa- 

22 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

tlon,  where  facts  are  manufactured  for  the  sake 
of  show,  and  accommodated  to  produce,  through 
the  weakness  of  sympathy,  a  weeping  effect. 
But  Mr.  Burke  should  recollect  that  he  is  writ- 
ing history,  and  not  plays;  and  that  his  readers 
will  expect  truth,  and  not  the  spouting  rant  of 
high-toned  declamation. 

When  we  see  a  man  dramatically  lamenting 
in  a  publication  intended  to  be  believed,  that, 
"  The  age  of  chivalry  is  gone!  that  The  glory  of 
Europe  is  extinguished  forever!  that  The  un- 
bought  grace  of  life  (if  any  one  knows  what  it 
is),  the  cheap  defense  of  nations,  the  nurse  of 
manly  sentiment  and  heroic  enterprise,  is  gone!  '* 
and  all  this  because  the  Quixotic  age  of  chivalric 
nonsense  is  gone,  what  opinion  can  we  form  of 
his  judgment,  or  what  regard  can  we  pay  to  his 
facts  ? 

In  the  rhapsody  of  his  imagination,  he  has 
discovered  a  world  of  wind-mills,  and  his  sor- 
rows are,  that  there  are  no  Quixotes  to  attack 
them.  But  if  the  age  of  aristocracy,  like  that  of! 
chivalry,  should  fall,  and  they  had  originally 
some  connection,  Mr.  Burke,  the  trumpeter  of 
the  order,  may  continue  his  parody  to  the  end, 
and  finish  with  exclaiming,  "  Othello's  occupa- 
tion's gone!  '* 

29 


f 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

Notwithstanding  Mr.  Burke's  horrid  paint- 
ings, when  the  French  Revolution  is  compared 
with  that  of  other  countries,  the  astonishment 
will  be,  that  it  is  marked  with  so  few  sacrifices; 
but  this  astonishment  will  cease  when  we  reflect 
that  principles,  and  not  persons,  were  the  medi- 
tated objects  of  destruction.  The  mind  of  the 
nation  was  acted  upon  by  a  higher  stimulus  than 
what  the  consideration  of  persons  could  inspire, 
and  sought  a  higher  conquest  than  could  be  pro- 
duced by  the  downfall  of  an  enemy. 

Among  the  few  who  fell,  there  do  not  appear 
to  be  any  that  were  intentionally  singled  out. 
They  all  of  them  had  their  fate  in  the  circum- 
stances of  the  moment,  and  wxre  not  pursued 
with  that  long,  cold-blooded,  unabated  revenge 
which  pursued  the  unfortunate  Scotch,  in  the 
affair  of  1745. 

Through  the  whole  of  Mr.  Burke's  book  I 
do  not  observe  that  the  Bastille  is  mentioned 
more  than  once,  and  that  with  a  kind  of  implica- 
tion as  if  he  were  sorry  it  was  pulled  down,  and 
wished  it  were  built  up  again.  "  We  have  re- 
built Newgate,"  says  he,  "  and  tenanted  the 
mansion;  and  we  have  prisons  almost  as  strong 
as  the  Bastille  for  those  who  dare  to  libel  the 
Queens  of  France."* 

*  Since   writing   the   above,  two   other   places  occur  in  Mr, 

24 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

As  to  what  a  madman,  like  the  person  called 
Lord  George  Gordon,  might  say,  and  to  whom 
Newgate  is  rather  a  bedlam  than  a  prison,  it  is 
unworthy  a  rational  consideration. 

It  was  a  madman  that  libelled, — and  that  is 
sufficient  apology;  and  it  afforded  an  oppor- 
tunity for  confining  him,  which  was  the  thing 
which  was  wished  for;  but  certain  it  is  that  Mr. 
Burke,  who  does  not  call  himself  a  madman, 
whatever  other  people  may  do,  has  libelled,  in 
the  most  unprovoked  manner,  and  in  the  grossest 
style  of  the  most  vulgar  abuse,  the  whole  repre- 
sentative authority  of  France;  and  yet  Mr. 
Burke  takes  his  seat  in  the  British  House  of  Com- 


mons 


^\  From  his  violence  and  his  grief,  his  silence 
on  some  points,  and  his  excess  on  others,  it  is 
difficult  not  to  believe  that  JNIr.  Burke  is  sorry, 
extremely  sorry,  that  arbitrary  power,  the  power 
of  the  Pope,  and  the  Bastille,  are  pulled  down. 

Burke's  pamphlet,  in  which  the  name  of  the  Bastille  is  mentioned, 
but  in  the  same  manner.  In  the  one,  he  introduces  it  in  a  sort  of 
obscure  question,  and  asks — "  Will  any  ministers  who  now  serve 
such  a  king  with  but  a  decent  appearance  of  respect,  cordially; 
obey  the  orders  of  those  whom  but  the  other  day,  in  his  name,  they; 
had  committed  to  the  Bastille?"  In  the  other,  the  taking  it  is 
mentioned  as  implying  criminality  in  the  French  guards  who  as- 
sisted in  demolishing  it. — "  They  have  not  (says  he)  forgot  the 
taking  tlie  king's  castles  at  Paris." — This  is  Mr.  Burke,  who  pre- 
tends to  write  on  constitutional  freedom. 


IV-6 


25 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

Not  one  glance  of  compassion,  not  one  com- 
miserating reflection,  that  I  can  find  throughout 
his  book,  has  he  bestowed  on  those  who  Hngered 
out  the  most  wretched  of  hves,  a  life  without 
hope,  in  the  most  miserable  of  prisons. 
>j^  It  is  painful  to  behold  a  man  employing  his 
talents  to  corrupt  himself.  Nature  has  been 
kinder  to  Mr.  Burke  than  he  is  to  her.  He  is 
not  affected  by  the  reality  of  distress  touching  his 
heart,  but  by  the  showy  resemblance  of  it  strik- 
ing his  imagination.  He  pities  the  plumage,  but 
forgets  the  dying  bird. 

Accustomed  to  kiss  the  aristocratical  hand 
that  hath  purloined  him  from  himself,  he  degen- 
erates into  a  composition  of  art,  and  the  genuine 
soul  of  nature  forsakes  him.  His  hero  or  his 
heroine  must  be  a  tragedy-victim  expiring  in 
show,  and  not  the  real  prisoner  of  mystery,  sink- 
ing into  death  in  the  silence  of  a  dungeon. 

As  Mr.  Burke  has  passed  over  the  whole 
transaction  of  the  Bastille  (and  his  silence  is 
nothing  in  its  favor),  and  has  entertained  his 
readers  with  reflections  on  supposed  facts  dis- 
torted into  real  falsehoods,  I  will  give,  since  he 
has  not,  some  account  of  the  circumstances  which 
preceded  that  transaction.  They  will  serve  to 
show,  that  less  mischief  could  scarcely  have  ac- 

26 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

companied  such  an  event,  when  considered  with 
the  treacherous  and  hostile  aggravations  of  the 
enemies  of  the  Revolution. 

The  mind  can  hardly  picture  to  itself  a  more 
tremendous  scene  than  which  the  city  of  Paris 
exhibited  at  the  time  of  taking  the  Bastille,  and 
for  two  days  before  and  after,  nor  conceive  the 
possibility  of  its  quieting  so  soon.  At  a  distance, 
this  transaction  has  appeared  only  as  an  act  of 
heroism,  standing  on  itself;  and  the  close  politi- 
cal connection  it  had  with  the  Revolution  is  lost 
in  the  brilliancy  of  the  achievement. 

But  we  are  to  consider  it  as  the  strength  of 
the  parties,  brought  man  to  man,  and  contending 
for  the  issue.  The  Bastille  was  to  be  either  the 
prize  or  the  prison  of  the  assailants.  The  down- 
fall of  it  included  the  idea  of  the  downfall  of 
despotism;  and  this  compounded  image  was  be- 
come as  figuratively  united  as  Bunyan's  Doubt- 
ing Castle  and  Giant  Despair. 

The  National  Assembly,  before  and  at  the 
time  of  taking  the  Bastille,  were  sitting  at  Ver- 
sailles, twelve  miles  distant  from  Paris.  About 
a  week  before  the  rising  of  the  Parisians  and 
their  taking  the  Bastille,  it  was  discovered  that 
a  plot  was  forming,  at  the  head  of  which  was  the 
Count  d'Artois,  the  King's  youngest  brother,  for 

27 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

demolishing  the  National  Assembly,  seizing  its 
members,  and  thereby  crushing,  by  a  coup  de 
main,  all  hopes  and  prospects  of  forming  a  free 
government.  For  the  sake  of  humanity,  as  well 
as  of  freedom,  it  is  well  this  plan  did  not  succeed. 
Examples  are  not  wanting  to  show  how  dread- 
fully vindictive  and  cruel  are  all  old  govern- 
ments, when  they  are  successful  against  what 
they  call  a  revolt. 

This  plan  must  have  been  some  time  in  con- 
templation ;  because,  in  order  to  carry  it  into  exe- 
cution, it  was  necessary  to  collect  a  large  mili- 
tary force  around  Paris,  and  to  cut  off  the  com- 
munication between  that  city  and  the  National 
Assembly  at  Versailles.  The  troops  destined 
for  this  service  were  chiefly  the  foreign  troops 
in  the  pay  of  France,  and  who,  for  this  particu- 
lar purpose,  were  drawn  from  the  distant  prov- 
inces where  they  were  then  stationed.  When 
they  were  collected,  to  the  amount  of  between 
twenty-five  and  thirty  thousand,  it  was  judged 
time  to  put  the  plan  into  execution. 

The  Ministry  who  were  then  in  office,  and 
who  were  friendly  to  the  Revolution,  were  in- 
stantly dismissed,  and  a  new  Ministry  formed  of 
those  who  had  concerted  the  project;  among 
whom  was  Count  de  Broglio,  and  to  his  share 

28 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

was  given  the  command  of  those  troops.  The 
character  of  this  man,  as  described  to  me  in  a 
letter  which  I  communicated  to  Mr.  Burke  be- 
fore he  began  to  write  his  book,  and  from  an 
authority  which  ^Mr.  Burke  well  knows  was  good, 
was  that  of  "an  high-flying  aristocrat,  cool,  and 
capable  of  every  mischief." 

While  these  matters  were  agitating,  the  Na- 
tional Assembly  stood  in  the  most  perilous  and 
critical  situation  that  a  body  of  men  can  be  sup- 
posed to  act  in.  They  were  the  devoted  victims, 
and  they  knew  it.  They  had  the  hearts  and 
wishes  of  their  country  on  their  side,  but  military 
authority  they  had  none.  The  guards  of  Broglio 
surrounded  the  hall  where  the  Assembly  sat, 
ready,  at  the  word  of  command,  to  seize  their 
persons,  as  had  been  done  the  year  before  to  the 
Parliament  of  Paris. 

Had  the  National  Assembly  deserted  their 
trust,  or  had  they  exhibited  signs  of  weakness 
or  fear,  their  enemies  had  been  encouraged,  and 
the  country  depressed.  When  the  situation  they 
stood  in,  the  cause  they  were  engaged  in,  and 
the  crisis  then  ready  to  burst  which  should  deter- 
mine their  personal  and  political  fate,  and  that  of 
their  country,  and  probably  of  Europe,  are  taken 
into  one  view,  none  but  a  heart  callous  with 

29 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

prejudice,  or  corrupted  by  dependence,  can  avoid 
interesting  itself  in  their  success. 

The  Ai'chbishop  of  Vienne  was  at  this  time 
president  of  the  National  Assembly;  a  person 
too  old  to  undergo  the  scene  that  a  few  days,  or 
a  few  hours,  might  bring  forth.  A  man  of  more 
activity,  and  bolder  fortitude,  was  necessary; 
and  the  National  Assembly  chose  (under  the 
form  of  a  vice-president,  for  the  presidency  still 
resided  in  the  Archbishop)  M.  de  la  Fayette;  and 
this  is  the  only  instance  of  a  vice-president  being 
chosen. 

It  was  at  the  moment  that  this  storm  was 
pending  (July  11)  that  a  declaration  of  rights 
was  brought  forward  by  M.  de  la  Fayette,  and 
is  the  same  which  is  alluded  to  in  page  four- 
teen. It  was  hastily  drawn  up,  and  makes  only 
a  part  of  a  more  extensive  declaration  of  rights, 
agreed  upon  and  adopted  afterward  by  the  Na- 
tional Assembly. 

The  particular  reason  for  bringing  it  forward 
at  this  moment  (M.  de  la  Fayette  has  since  in- 
formed me)  was,  that  if  the  National  Assembly 
should  fall  in  the  thi'eatened  destruction  that  then 
surrounded  it,  some  traces  of  its  principles  might 
have  the  chance  of  surviving  the  wreck. 

Every  thing  now  was  drawing  to  a  crisis. 
30 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

The  event  was  freedom  or  slavery.  On  one  side, 
an  army  of  nearly  thirty  thousand  men;  on  the 
other,  an  unarmed  body  of  citizens,  for  the  citi- 
zens of  Paris  on  whom  the  National  Assembly 
must  then  immediately  depend,  were  as  unarmed 
and  as  undisciplined  as  the  citizens  of  London 
are  now.  The  French  guards  had  given  strong 
symptoms  of  their  being  attached  to  the  national 
cause ;  but  their  numbers  were  small,  not  a  tenth 
part  of  the  force  that  Broglio  commanded,  and 
their  officers  were  in  the  interest  of  Broglio. 

ISIatters  being  now  ripe  for  execution,  the 
new  JNIinistry  made  their  appearance  in  office. 
The  reader  will  carry  in  his  mind,  that  the  Bas- 
tille was  taken  the  14th  of  July;  the  point  of 
time  I  am  now  speaking  to,  is  the  12th.  Imme- 
diately on  the  news  of  the  change  of  the  Ministry 
reaching  Paris,  in  the  afternoon,  all  the  play- 
houses and  places  of  entertainment,  shops  and 
houses,  w^ere  shut  up.  The  change  of  ministry 
was  considered  as  the  prelude  of  hostilities,  and 
the  opinion  was  rightly  founded. 

The  foreign  troops  began  to  advance 
towards  the  city.  The  Prince  de  Lambesc,  who 
commanded  a  body  of  German  cavalry,  ap- 
proached by  the  Place  of  Louis  XV  which  con- 
nects itself  with  some  of  the  streets.     In  his 

31 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

march  he  insulted  and  struck  an  old  man  with 
his  sword.  The  French  are  remarkable  for  their 
respect  to  old  age,  and  the  insolence,  with  which 
it  appeared  to  be  done,  uniting  with  the  general 
fermentation  they  were  in,  produced  a  powerful 
effect,  and  a  cry  of  To  arms!  to  arms!  spread 
itself  in  a  moment  over  the  whole  city. 
7^"^-  Arms  they  had  none,  nor  scarcely  any  who 
knew  the  use  of  them;  but  desperate  resolution, 
when  every  hope  is  at  stake,  supplies  for  a  while, 
the  want  of  arms.  Near  where  the  Prince  of 
Lambesc  was  drawn  up,  were  large  piles  of 
stones  collected  for  building  the  new  bridge,  and 
with  these  the  people  attacked  the  cavalry.  A 
party  of  the  French  guards,  upon  hearing  the 
firing,  rushed  from  their  quarters  and  joined  the 
people;  and  night  coming  on,  the  cavalry  re- 
treated. 

The  streets  of  Paris,  being  narrow,  are  favor- 
able for  defense;  and  the  loftiness  of  the  houses, 
consisting  of  many  stories,  from  which  great  an- 
noyance might  be  given,  secured  them  against 
nocturnal  enterprises;  and  the  night  was  spent 
in  providing  themselves  with  every  sort  of  wea- 
pon they  could  make  or  procure:  guns,  swords, 
blacksmith's  hammers,  carpenter's  axes,  iron 
crows,  pikes,  halberds,  pitchforks,  spits,  clubs,  etc. 

32 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

The  incredible  numbers  with  which  they  as- 
sembled the  next  morning,  and  the  still  more 
incredible  resolution  they  exhibited,  embarrassed 
and  astonished  their  enemies.  Little  did  the 
new  Ministry  expect  such  a  salute.  Accustomed 
to  slavery  themselves,  they  had  no  idea  that  lib- 
-7  '  erty  was  capable  of  such  inspiration,  or  that  a 
body  of  unarmed  citizens  would  dare  to  face  the 
military  force  of  thirty  thousand  men. 

Every  moment  of  this  day  was  employed  in 
collecting  arms,  concerting  plans,  and  arranging 
themselves  into  the  best  order  which  such  an  in- 
stantaneous movement  could  afford.  Broglio 
continued  lying  round  the  city,  but  made  no 
further  advances  this  day,  and  the  succeeding 
night  passed  with  as  much  tranquillity  as  such 
a  scene  could  possibly  produce. 

But  defense  only  was  not  the  object  of  the 
citizens.  They  had  a  cause  at  stake,  on  which 
depended  their  freedom  or  their  slavery.  They 
every  moment  expected  an  attack,  or  to  hear  of 
one  made  on  the  National  Assembly ;  and  in  such 
a  situation,  the  most  prompt  measures  are  some- 
times the  best. 

The  object  that  now  presented  itself  was  the 
Bastille;  and  the  eclat  of  carrying  such  a  fortress 
in  the  face  of  such  an  army,  could  not  fail  to 

33 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

strike  a  terror  into  the  new  Ministry,  who  had 
scarcely  yet  had  time  to  meet.  By  some  inter- 
cepted correspondence  this  morning,  it  was  dis- 
covered that  the  Mayor  of  Paris,  M.  de  Fles- 
selles,  who  appeared  to  be  in  their  interest,  was 
betraying  them;  and  from  this  discovery,  there 
remained  no  doubt,  that  BrogHo  would  reinforce 
the  Bastille  the  ensuing  evening.  It  was  there- 
fore necessary  to  attack  it  that  day;  but  before 
this  could  be  done,  it  was  first  necessary  to  pro- 
cure a  better  supply  of  arms  than  they  were  then 
possessed  of. 

There  was,  adjoining  to  the  city,  a  large 
magazine  of  arms  deposited  at  the  Hospital  of 
the  Invalids,  which  the  citizens  summoned  to 
surrender;  and  as  the  place  was  not  defensible, 
nor  attempted  much  defense,  they  soon  suc- 
ceeded. 

Thus  supphed,  they  marched  to  attack  the 
Bastille, ;  a  vast,  mixed  multitude  of  all  ages,  and 
of  all  degrees,  and  armed  with  all  sorts  of 
weapons.  Imagination  would  fail  of  describing 
to  itself  the  appearance  of  such  a  procession,  and 
of  the  anxiety  for  the  events  which  a  few  hours 
or  a  few  minutes  might  produce. 

What  j)lans  the  Ministry  was  forming,  were 
as  unknown  to  the  people  within  the  city,  as  what 

34 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

the  citizens  were  doing  was  unknown  to  the  Min- 
istry; and  what  movements  Brogho  might  make 
for  the  sujDport  or  relief  of  the  place,  were  to  the 
citizens  equally  as  iniknown.  All  was  mystery 
and  hazard. 

That  the  Bastille  was  attacked  with  an  en- 
thusiasm of  heroism,  such  as  only  the  highest 
animation  of  liberty  could  inspire,  and  carried 
in  the  space  of  a  few  hours,  is  an  event  which  the 
world  is  fully  possessed  of.  I  am  not  undertak- 
ing a  detail  of  the  attack,  but  bringing  into  view 
the  conspiracy  against  the  nation  which  pro- 
voked it,  and  which  fell  with  the  Bastille. 

The  prison  to  which  the  new  Ministry  was 
dooming  the  National  Assembly,  in  addition  to 
its  being  the  high  altar  and  castle  of  despotism, 
became  the  proper  object  to  begin  with.  This 
enterprise  broke  up  the  new  Ministry,  who  began 
now  to  fly  from  the  ruin  they  had  prepared  for 
others.  The  troops  of  Broglio  dispersed,  and 
himself  fled  also. 

Mr.  Burke  has  spoken  a  great  deal  about 
plots,  but  he  has  never  once  spoken  of  this  plot 
against  the  National  Assembly,  and  the  liberties 
of  the  nation;  and  that  he  might  not,  he  has 
passed  over  all  the  circumstances  that  might 
throw  it  in  his  way. 

35 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

The  exiles  who  have  fled  from  France,  whose 
cause  he  so  much  interests  himself  in,  and  from 
whom  he  has  had  his  lesson,  fled  in  consequence 
of  a  miscarriage  of  this  plot.  No  plot  was 
formed  against  them:  they  were  plotting  against 
others;  and  those  who  fell,  met,  not  unjustly,  the 
punishment  they  were  preparing  to  execute. 

But  will  Mr.  Burke  say,  that  if  this  plot,  con- 
trived with  the  subtiHty  of  an  ambuscade,  had 
succeeded,  the  successful  party  would  have  re- 
strained their  wrath  so  soon?  Let  the  history  of 
all  old  governments  answer  the  question. 

Whom  has  the  National  Assembly  brought 
to  the  scaffold?  None.  They  were  themselves 
the  devoted  victims  of  this  plot,  and  they  have 
not  retaliated;  why  then  are  they  charged  with 
revenge  they  have  not  acted  ?  In  the  tremendous 
breaking  forth  of  a  whole  people,  in  which 
all  degrees,  tempers  and  characters  are  con- 
founded, and  delivering  themselves,  by  a  miracle 
of  exertion,  from  the  destruction  meditated 
against  them,  is  it  to  be  expected  that  nothing 
will  happen? 
../  When  men  are  sore  with  the  sense  of  oppres- 

sions, and  menaced  with  the  prospect  of  new 
ones,  is  the  calmness  of  philosophy,  or  the  palsy 
of  insensibility  to  be  looked  for?     Mr.  Burke 
36 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

exclaims  against  outrage ;  yet  the  greatest  is  that 
which  he  has  committed.  His  book  is  a  volume 
of  outrage,  not  apologized  for  by  the  impulse  of  a 
moment,  but  cherished  through  a  space  of  ten 
months;  yet  Mr.  Burke  had  no  provocation,  no 
life,  no  interest  at  stake. 

More  of  the  citizens  fell  in  this  struggle  than 
of  their  opponents ;  but  four  or  five  persons  were 
seized  by  the  populace,  and  instantly  put  to 
death;  the  Governor  of  the  Bastille,  and  the 
Mayor  of  Paris,  who  was  detected  in  the  act  of 
betraying  them;  and  afterwards  Foulon,  one  of 
the  new  INIinistry,  and  Berthier,  his  son-in-law, 
who  had  accepted  the  office  of  Intendant  of 
Paris.  Their  heads  were  stuck  upon  spikes,  and 
carried  about  the  city;  and  it  is  upon  this  mode 
of  punishment  that  Mr.  Burke  builds  a  great 
part  of  his  tragic  scenes.  Let  us  therefore  exam- 
ine how  men  came  by  the  idea  of  punishing  in 
this  manner. 

They  learn  it  from  the  governments  they  live 
under;  and  retaliate  the  punishments  they  have 
been  accustomed  to  behold.  The  head  stuck 
upon  spikes,  which  remained  for  years  upon 
Temple  Bar,  differed  nothing  in  the  horror  of  the 
scene  from  those  carried  about  on  spikes  at  Paris : 
yet  this  was  done  by  the  English  Government. 

37 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

It  may  perhaps  be  said,  that  it  signifies 
nothing  to  a  man  what  is  done  to  him  after  he 
is  dead;  but  it  signifies  much  to  the  hving.  It 
either  tortures  their  feehngs,  or  it  hardens  their 
hearts;  and  in  either  case,  it  instructs  them  how 
to  punish  when  power  falls  into  their  hands. 

Lay  then  the  axe  to  the  root,  and  teach  gov- 
ernments humanity.  It  is  their  sanguinary  pun- 
ishments which  corrupt  mankind.  In  England, 
the  punishment  in  certain  cases,  is  by  hanging, 
drawing  and  quartering;  the  heart  of  the  sufferer 
is  cut  out  and  held  up  to  the  view  of  the  populace. 

In  France,  under  the  former  government,  the 
punishments  were  not  less  barbarous.  Who 
does  not  remember  the  execution  of-Damien, 
torn  to  pieces  by  horses?  The  effect  of  those 
cruel  spectacles  exhibited  to  the  populace,  is  to 
destroy  tenderness,  or  excite  revenge,  and  by  the 
base  and  false  idea  of  governing  men  by  terror, 
instead  of  reason,  they  become  precedents. 

It  is  over  the  lowest  class  of  mankind  that 
government  by  terror  is  intended  to  operate,  and 
it  is  on  them  that  it  operates  to  the  worst  effect. 
(They  have  sense  enough  to  feel  they  are  the 
objects  aimed  at;  and  they  inflict  in  their  turn 
the  examples  of  terror  they  have  been  instructed 
to  practise. 
38 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

There  is  in  all  European  countries,  a  large 
class  of  people  of  that  description  which  in  Eng- 
land is  called  the  "  moh."  Of  this  class  were 
those  who  committed  the  burnings  and  devasta- 
tions in  London  in  1780,  and  of  this  class  were 
those  who  carried  the  heads  upon  spikes  in  Paris. 

Foulon  and  Berthier  were  taken  up  in  the 
country  and  sent  to  Paris,  to  undergo  their  exam- 
ination at  the  Hotel  de  Ville;  for  the  National 
Assembly,  immediately  on  the  new  Ministry  com- 
ing into  office,  passed  a  decree  which  they  com- 
municated to  the  King  and  the  Cabinet,  that  they 
(the  National  Assembly)  would  hold  the  Minis- 
try, of  whom  Foulon  was  one,  responsible  for 
the  measures  they  were  advising  and  pursuing; 
but  the  mob,  incensed  at  the  appearance  of  Fou- 
lon and  Berthier,  tore  them  from  their  conduct- 
ors before  they  were  carried  to  the  Hotel  de 
Ville,  and  executed  them  on  the  spot. 

Why  then  does  Mr.  Burke  charge  outrages 
of  this  kind  on  a  w  hole  people  ?  As  well  may  he 
charge  the  riots  and  outrages  of  1780  on  all  the 
people  of  London,  or  those  in  Ireland  on  all  his 
countrymen. 

But  everything  we  see  or  hear  offensive  to 
our  feelings  and  derogatory  to  the  human  char- 
acter, should  lead  to  other  reflections  than  those 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

of  reproach.  Even  the  beings  who  commit  them 
have  some  claim  to  our  consideration.  How  then 
is  it  that  such  vast  classes  of  mankind  as  are  dis- 
tinguished by  the  appellation  of  the  \ailgar,  or 
the  ignorant,  mob,  are  so  numerous  in  aU  old 
countries? 

The  instant  we  ask  ourselves  this  question, 
reflection  finds  an  answer.  They  arise,  as  an 
unavoidable  consequence,  out  of  the  ill  construc- 
tion of  all  old  governments  in  Europe,  England 
included  with  the  rest.  It  is  by  distortedly  ex- 
alting some  men,  that  others  are  distortedly  de- 
based, till  the  whole  is  out  of  nature. 

A  vast  mass  of  mankind  are  degradedly 
thrown  into  the  background  of  the  human  pic- 
ture, to  bring  forward,  with  greater  glare,  the 
puppet-show  of  state  and  aristocracy.  In  the 
commencement  of  a  revolution,  those  men  are 
rather  the  followers  of  the  camp  than  of  the 
standard  of  liberty,  and  have  yet  to  be  instructed 
how  to  reverence  it. 

I  give  to  Mr.  Burke  all  his  theatrical  exag- 
gerations for  facts,  and  I  then  ask  him,  if  they 
do  not  estabhsh  the  certainty  of  what  I  here  lay 
down?  Admitting  them  to  be  true,  they  show 
the  necessity  of  the  French  Revolution,  as  much 
as  any  one  thing  he  could  have  asserted. 
40 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

These  outrages  are  not  the  effect  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Revolution,  but  of  the  degraded 
mind  that  existed  before  the  Revolution,  and 
which  the  Revolution  is  calculated  to  reform. 
Place  them  then  to  their  proper  cause,  and  take 
the  reproach  of  them  to  your  own  side. 

It  is  to  the  honor  of  the  National  Assembly, 
and  the  city  of  Paris,  that  during  such  a  tremen- 
dous scene  of  arms  and  confusion,  beyond  the 
control  of  all  authority,  that  they  have  been  able, 
by  the  influence  of  example  and  exhortation,  to 
restrain  so  much.  Never  were  more  pains  taken 
to  instruct  and  enlighten  mankind,  and  to  make 
them  see  that  their  interest  consisted  in  their  vir- 
tue, and  not  in  their  revenge,  than  what  have 
been  displayed  in  the  Revolution  of  France.  I 
now  proceed  to  make  some  remarks  on  Mr. 
Burke's  account  of  the  expedition  to  Versailles, 
October  the  5th  and  6th. 
''^  I  cannot  consider  Mr.  Burke's  book  in 
scarcely  any  other  light  than  a  dramatic  per- 
formance ;  and  he  must,  I  think,  have  considered 
it  in  the  same  light  himself,  by  the  poetical  liber- 
ties he  has  taken  of  omitting  some  facts,  distort- 
ing others,  and  making  the  machinery  bend  to 
produce  a  stage  effect. 

Of  this  kind  is  his  account  of  the  expedition 

41 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

to  Versailles.  He  begins  this  account  by  omitting 
the  only  facts,  which,  as  causes,  are  known  to  be 
true;  everything  beyond  these  is  conjecture,  even 
in  Paris:  and  he  then  works  up  a  tale  accommo- 
dated to  his  own  passions  and  prejudices. 

It  is  to  be  observed  throughout  Mr.  Burke's 
book,  that  he  never  speaks  of  plots  against  the 
Revolution;  and  it  is  from  those  plots  that  all 
the  mischiefs  have  arisen.  It  suits  his  purpose 
to  exhibit  consequences  without  their  causes.  It 
is  one  of  the  arts  of  the  drama  to  do  so.  If  the 
crimes  of  men  were  exhibited  with  their  suffer- 
ings, the  stage  effect  would  sometimes  be  lost, 
and  the  audience  would  be  inclined  to  approve 
where  it  was  intended  they  should  commiserate. 

After  all  the  investigations  that  have  been 
made  into  this  intricate  affair,  (the  expedition  to 
Versailles,)  it  still  remains  enveloped  in  all  that 
kind  of  mystery  which  ever  accompanies  events 
produced  more  from  a  concurrence  of  awkward 
circumstances,  than  from  fixed  design. 

While  the  characters  of  men  are  forming,  as 
is  always  the  case  in  revolutions,  there  is  a  recip- 
rocal suspicion,  and  a  disposition  to  misinterpret 
each  other;  and  even  parties  directly  opposite  in 
principle,  will  sometimes  concur  in  pushing  for- 
ward the  same  movement  with  very  different 
42 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

views,  and  with  the  hope  of  its  producing  very 
different  consequences. 

A  great  deal  of  this  may  be  discovered  in 
this  embarrassed  affair,  and  yet  the  issue  of  the 
whole  was  what  nobody  had  in  view. 

The  only  things  certainly  known  are,  that 
considerable  uneasiness  was  at  this  time  excited 
in  Paris  by  the  delay  of  the  King  in  not  sanction- 
ing and  forwarding  the  decrees  of  the  National 
Assembly,  particularly  that  of  the  Declaration 
of  the  Rights  of  Man,  and  the  decrees  of  the 
fourth  of  August,  which  contained  the  founda- 
tion principles  on  which  the  Constitution  was  to 
be  erected. 

The  kindest,  and  perhaps  the  fairest,  con- 
jecture upon  this  matter  is,  that  some  of  the  min- 
isters intended  to  make  remarks  and  observa- 
tions upon  certain  parts  of  them,  before  they 
were  finally  sanctioned  and  sent  to  the  provinces ; 
but  be  this  as  it  may,  the  enemies  of  the  Revolu- 
tion derived  hopes  from  the  delay,  and  the 
friends  of  the  Revolution,  uneasiness. 

During  this  state  of  suspense,  the  Garde  du 
Corps,  which  was  composed,  as  such  regiments 
generally  are,  of  persons  much  connected  with 
the  Court,  gave  an  entertainment  at  Versailles 
(Oct.  1,)    to  some  foreign  regiments  then  ar- 

43 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

rived;  and  when  the  entertainment  was  at  its 
height,  on  a  signal  given,  the  Garde  du  Corps 
tore  the  national  cockade  from  their  hats, 
trampled  it  under  foot,  and  replaced  it  with  a 
counter-cockade  prepared  for  the  purpose. 

An  indignity  of  this  kind  amounted  to  de- 
fiance. It  was  like  declaring  war;  and  if  men 
will  give  challenges,  they  must  expect  conse- 
quences. But  all  this  Mr.  Burke  has  carefully 
kept  out  of  sight. 

He  begins  his  account  by  saying,  "History 
will  record,  that  on  the  sixth  of  October,  1789, 
the  King  and  Queen  of  France,  after  a  day  of 
confusion,  alarm,  dismay  and  slaughter,  lay 
down  under  the  pledged  security  of  public  faith, 
to  indulge  nature  in  a  few  hours  of  respite,  and 
troubled,  melancholy  repose." 

This  is  neither  the  sober  style  of  history,  nor 
the  intention  of  it.  It  leaves  everything  to  be 
guessed  at,  and  mistaken.  One  would  at  least 
think  there  had  been  a  battle;  and  a  battle  there 
probably  would  have  been,  had  it  not  been  for 
the  moderating  prudence  of  those  whom  Mr. 
Burke  involves  in  his  censures.  By  his  keeping 
the  Garde  du  Corps  out  of  sight,  Mr.  Burke  has 
afforded  himself  the  dramatic  license  of  putting 
the  King  and  Queen  in  their  places,  as  if  the  ob- 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

ject  of  the  expedition  was  against  them.  But  to 
return  to  my  account — 

This  conduct  of  the  Garde  du  Corps,  as 
might  well  be  expected,  alarmed  and  enraged  the 
Parisians.  The  colors  of  the  cause,  and  the  cause 
itself,  were  becoming  too  united  to  mistake  the 
intention  of  the  insult,  and  the  Parisians  were 
determined  to  call  the  Garde  du  Corps  to  an  ac- 
count. 

There  was  certainly  nothing  of  the  cowardice 
of  assassination  in  marching  in  the  face  of  day 
to  demand  satisfaction  (if  such  a  phrase  may 
be  used)  of  a  body  of  armed  men  who  had  vol- 
untarily given  defiance.  But  the  circumstance 
which  serves  to  throw  this  affair  into  embar- 
rassment is,  that  the  enemies  of  the  Revolution 
appear  to  have  encouraged  it,  as  well  as  its 
friends. 

The  one  hoped  to  prevent  a  civil  war  by 
checking  it  in  time,  and  the  other  to  make  one. 
The  hopes  of  those  opposed  to  the  Revolution 
rested  in  making  the  King  of  their  party,  and 
getting  him  from  Versailles  to  Metz,  where  they 
expected  to  collect  a  force,  and  set  up  a  standard. 

We  have  therefore  two  different  objects  pre- 
senting themselves  at  the  same  time,  and  to  be 
accomplished  by  the  same  means:  the  one,  to 

45 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

chastise  the  Garde  du  Corps,  which  was  the  ob- 
ject of  the  Parisians;  the  other,  to  render  the 
confusion  of  such  a  scene  an  inducement  to  the 
King  to  set  off  for  Metz. 

On  October  the  fifth,  a  very  numerous  body 
of  women,  and  men  in  the  disguise  of  women, 
collected  around  the  Hotel  de  Ville  or  town-hall 
at  Paris,  and  set  off  for  Versailles.  Their  pro- 
fessed object  was  the  Garde  du  Corps;  but  pru- 
dent men  readily  recollected  that  mischief  is 
more  easily  begun  than  ended;  and  this  im- 
pressed itself  with  the  more  force,  from  the  sus- 
picions already  stated,  and  the  irregularity  of 
such  a  cavalcade. 

As  soon,  therefore,  as  a  sufficient  force  could 
be  collected,  M.  de  la  Fayette,  by  orders  from 
the  civil  authority  of  Paris,  set  off  after  them  at 
the  head  of  twenty  thousand  of  the  Paris  militia. 
The  Revolution  could  derive  no  benefit  from 
confusion,  and  its  opposers  might.  By  an  ami- 
able and  spirited  manner  of  address,  he  had 
hitherto  been  fortunate  in  calming  disquietudes, 
and  in  this  he  was  extraordinarily  successful. 

To  frustrate,  therefore,  the  hopes  of  those 

who  might  seek  to  improve  this  scene  into  a  sort 

of  justifiable  necessity  for  the  King's  quitting 

Versailles  and  withdrawing  to  Metz,  and  to  pre- 

46 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

vent  at  the  same  time,  the  consequences  that 
might  ensue  between  the  Garde  dii  Corps  and  this 
phalanx  of  men  and  women,  he  forwarded  ex- 
presses to  the  King,  that  he  was  on  his  march  to 
Versailles,  at  the  orders  of  the  civil  authority  of 
Paris,  for  the  purpose  of  peace  and  protection, 
expressing  at  the  same  time,  the  necessity  of  re- 
straining the  Garde  du  Corps  from  firing  on  the 
people.* 

He  arrived  at  Versailles  between  ten  and 
eleven  at  night.  The  Garde  du  Corps  was  drawn 
up,  and  the  people  had  arrived  some  time  before, 
but  every  thing  had  remained  suspended.  Wis- 
dom and  policy  now  consisted  in  changing  a 
scene  of  danger  into  a  happy  event.  M.  de  la 
Fayette  became  the  mediator  between  the  en- 
raged parties;  and  the  King,  to  remove  the  un- 
easiness which  had  arisen  from  the  delay  already 
stated,  sent  for  the  President  of  the  National 
Assembly,  and  signed  the  Declaration  of  the 
Rights  of  Man,  and  such  other  parts  of  the  Con- 
stitution as  were  in  readiness. 

It  was  now  about  one  in  the  morning.  Every 
thing  appeared  to  be  composed,  and  a  general 
congratulation  took  place.    At  the  beat  of  drum 

*  I  am  warranted  in  asserting  this,  as  I  had  it  personally  from 
M.  de  la  Fayette,  with  whom  I  have  lived  in  habits  of  friendship 
for  fourteen  years. 

47 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

a  proclamation  was  made,  that  the  citizens  of 
Versailles  would  give  the  hospitality  of  their 
houses  to  their  fellow-citizens  of  Paris.  Those 
who  could  not  be  accommodated  in  this  manner, 
remained  in  the  streets,  or  took  up  their  quarters 
in  the  churches ;  and  at  two  o'clock  the  King  and 
Queen  retired. 

In  this  state,  matters  passed  till  the  break  of 
day,  when  a  fresh  disturbance  arose  from  the 
censurable  conduct  of  some  of  both  parties,  for 
such  characters  there  will  be  in  all  such  scenes. 

One  of  the  Garde  du  Corps  appeared  at  one 
of  the  windows  of  the  palace,  and  the  people,  who 
had  remained  during  the  night  in  the  streets,  ac- 
costed him  with  reviling  and  provocative  lan- 
guage. Instead  of  retiring,  as  in  such  a  case 
prudence  would  have  dictated,  he  presented  his 
musket,  fired,  and  killed  one  of  the  Paris  militia. 

The  peace  being  thus  broken,  the  people 
rushed  into  the  palace  in  quest  of  the  offender. 
They  attacked  the  quarters  of  the  Garde  du 
Corps  within  the  palace,  and  pursued  them 
through  the  avenues  of  it,  and  to  the  apartments 
of  the  King. 

On  this  tumult,  not  the  Queen  only,  as  Mr. 
Burke  has  represented  it,  but  every  person  in 
the  palace,  was  awakened  and  alarmed;  and  M. 
48 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

de  la  Fayette  had  a  second  time  to  interpose 
between  the  parties,  the  event  of  which  was, 
that  the  Garde  du  Corps  put  on  the  national 
cockade,  and  the  matter  ended,  as  by  oblivion, 
after  the  loss  of  two  or  three  lives. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  time  in  which 
this  confusion  was  acting,  the  King  and  Queen 
were  in  pubhc  at  the  balcony,  and  neither  of 
them  concealed  for  safety's  sake,  as  Mr.  Burke 
insinuates. 

Matters  being  thus  appeased,  and  tranquillity 
restored,  a  general  acclamation  broke  forth,  of 
Le  Roi  a  Paris — Le  Roi  a  Paris — The  King  of 
Paris.  It  was  the  shout  of  peace,  and  imme- 
diately accepted  on  the  part  of  the  King.  By 
this  measure,  all  future  projects  of  trapanning 
the  King  to  Metz,  and  setting  up  the  standard 
of  opposition  to  the  Constitution,  were  prevented, 
and  the  suspicions  extinguished. 

The  King  and  his  family  reached  Paris  in  the 
evening,  and  were  congratulated  on  their  arrival 
by  M.  Bailley,  the  Mayor  of  Paris,  in  the  name 
of  the  citizens.  Mr.  Burke,  who  throughout  his 
book  confounds  things,  persons,  and  principles, 
has  in  his  remarks  on  M.  Bailley 's  address,  con- 
founded time  also.  He  censures  M.  Bailley  for 
calling  it,  ''un  bon  jour"  a  good  day. 

49 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

INIr.  Burke  should  have  informed  himself, 
that  this  scene  took  up  the  space  of  two  days,  the 
day  on  which  it  began  with  every  appearance 
of  danger  and  mischief,  and  the  day  on  which  it 
terminated  without  the  mischiefs  that  threatened ; 
and  that  it  is  to  this  peaceful  termination  that  M. 
Bailley  alludes,  and  to  the  arrival  of  the  King 
at  Paris. 

'  Not  less  than  three  hundred  thousand  per- 
sons arranged  themselves  in  the  procession  from 
Versailles  to  Paris,  and  not  an  act  of  molestation 
was  committed  during  the  whole  march. 

Mr.  Burke,  on  the  authority  of  M.  Lally  Tol- 
lendal,  a  deserter  from  the  National  Assembly, 
says,  that  on  entering  Paris,  the  people  shouted, 
''Tous  les  eveques  a  la  lanterned'  All  Bishops  to 
be  hanged  at  the  lantern  or  lamp-posts. 

It  is  surprising  that  nobody  could  hear  this 
but  Lally  Tollendal,  and  that  nobody  should  be- 
lieve it  but  ]Mr.  Burke.  It  has  not  the  least  con- 
nection with  any  part  of  the  transaction,  and  is 
totally  foreign  to  every  circumstance  of  it. 

The  bishops  have  never  been  introduced  be- 
fore into  any  scene  of  Mr.  Burke's  drama :  Why 
then  are  they,  all  at  once,  and  altogether,  tout  a 
coup  et  tous  ensemble,  introduced  now?  Mr. 
Burke  brings  forward  his  bishops  and  his  lantern, 
50 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

like  figures  in  a  magic  lantern,  and  raises  his 
scenes  by  contrast  instead  of  connection. 

But  it  serves  to  show,  with  the  rest  of  his 
book,  what  little  credit  ought  to  be  given,  where 
even  probability  is  set  at  defiance,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  defaming:  and  with  this  reflection,  in- 
stead of  a  soliloquy  in  praise  of  chivalry,  as  ^Ir. 
Burke  has  done,  I  close  the  account  of  the  expe- 
dition to  Versailles.* 

I  have  now  to  follow  Mr.  Burke  through  a 
pathless  wilderness  of  rhapsodies,  and  a  sort  of 
descant  upon  governments,  in  which  he  asserts 
whatever  he  pleases,  on  the  presumption  of  its 
being  believed,  without  offering  either  evidence 
or  reasons  for  so  doing. 

Before  anj'thing  can  be  reasoned  upon  to  a 
conclusion,  certain  facts,  principles,  or  data,  to 
reason  from,  must  be  established,  admitted,  or 
denied.  Mr.  Burke,  with  his  usual  outrage, 
abuses  the  Declaration  of  the  Rights  of  Man, 
published  by  the  National  Assembly  of  France, 
as  the  basis  on  which  the  Constitution  of  France 
is  built.  This  he  calls  "paltry  and  blurred  sheets 
of  paper  about  the  rights  of  man." 

Does  Mr.  Burke  mean  to  deny  that  7na7i  has 

*  An  accoiint  of  the  expedition  to  Versailles  may  be  seen  in 
No.  13,  of  the  "  Revolution  de  Paris,"  containing  the  events  from 
the  3d  to  the  10th  of  October,  1789. 

51 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

any  rights?  If  he  does,  then  he  must  mean  that 
there  are  no  such  things  as  rights  any  where,  and 
that  he  has  none  himself;  for  who  is  there  in  the 
world  but  man?  But  if  Mr.  Burke  means  to 
admit  that  man  has  rights,  the  question  then  wiU 
be,  what  are  those  rights,  and  how  came  man  by 
them  originally? 

The  error  of  those  who  reason  by  precedents 
drawn  from  antiquity,  respecting  the  rights  of 
man,  is  that  they  do  not  go  far  enough  into  an- 
tiquity. They  do  not  go  the  whole  way.  They 
stop  in  some  of  the  intermediate  stages  of  an 
hundred  or  a  thousand  years,  and  produce  what 
was  then  done  as  a  rule  for  the  present  day. 
This  is  no  authority  at  all. 

If  we  travel  stiU  further  into  antiquity,  we 
shall  find  a  directly  contrary  opinion  and  prac- 
tise prevailing;  and,  if  antiquity  is  to  be  author- 
ity, a  thousand  such  authorities  may  be  produced, 
successively  contradicting  each  other;  but  if  we 
proceed  on,  we  shall  at  last  come  out  right;  we 
shall  come  to  the  time  when  man  came  from  the 
hand  of  his  Maker.  What  was  he  then?  Man. 
Man  was  his  high  and  only  title,  and  a  higher 
cannot  be  given  him.  But  of  titles  I  shall  speak 
hereafter. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  the  origin  of  man, 

52 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

and  at  the  origin  of  his  rights.  As  to  the  manner 
in  which  the  world  has  been  governed  from  that 
day  to  this,  it  is  no  further  any  concern  of  ours 
than  to  make  a  proper  use  of  the  errors  or  the 
improvements  which  the  history  of  it  presents. 
Those  who  lived  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  years 
ago,  were  then  moderns  as  we  are  now.  They 
had  their  ancients,  and  those  ancients  had  others, 
and  we  also  shall  be  ancients  in  our  turn. 

If  the  mere  name  of  antiquity  is  to  govern  in 
the  affairs  of  hfe,  the  people  who  are  to  live  an 
hundred  or  a  thousand  years  hence,  may  as  well 
take  us  for  a  precedent,  as  we  make  a  precedent 
of  those  who  lived  an  hundred  or  a  thousand 
years  ago. 

The  fact  is,  that  portions  of  antiquity,  by 
proving  every  thing,  estabhsh  nothing.  It  is 
authority  against  authority  all  the  way,  till  we 
come  to  the  divine  origin  of  the  rights  of  man,  at 
the  Creation.  Here  our  inquiries  find  a  resting- 
place,  and  our  reason  finds  a  home. 

If  a  dispute  about  the  rights  of  man  had 
arisen  at  a  distance  of  an  hundred  years  from 
the  Creation,  it  is  to  this  source  of  authority  they 
must  have  referred,  and  it  is  to  the  same  source 
of  authority  that  we  must  now  refer. 

Though  I  mean  not  to  touch  upon  any  sec- 

53 


^^ 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

tarian  principle  of  religion,  yet  it  may  be  worth 
observing,  that  the  genealogy  of  Christ  is  traced 
to  Adam.  Why  then  not  trace  the  rights  of 
man  to  the  creation  of  man?  I  will  answer  the 
question.  Because  there  have  been  upstart  gov- 
ernments, thrusting  themselves  between,  and  pre- 
sumptuously working  to  un-mdke  man. 

If  any  generation  of  men  ever  possessed  the 
right  of  dictating  the  mode  by  which  the  world 
should  be  governed  for  ever,  it  was  the  first 
generation  that  existed;  and  if  that  generation 
did  it  not,  no  succeeding  generation  can  show 
any  authoritj'^  for  doing  it,  nor  can  set  any  up. 

The  illuminating  and  divine  principle  of  the 
equal  rights  of  man,  (for  it  has  its  origin  from 
the  Maker  of  man) ,  relates  not  only  to  the  living 
individuals,  but  to  generations  of  men  succeed- 
ing each  other.  Every  generation  is  equal  in 
rights  to  the  generations  which  preceded  it,  by 
the  same  rule  that  every  individual  is  born  equal 
in  rights  with  his  contemporary. 

Every  history  of  the  Creation,  and  every  tra- 
ditionary account,  whether  from  the  lettered  or 
unlettered  world,  however  they  may  vary  in  their 
opinion  or  belief  of  certain  particulars,  all  agree 
in  establishing  one  point,  the  unity  of  man;  by 
which  I  mean  that  men  are  all  of  one  degree,  and 
54 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

consequently  that  all  men  are  born  equal,  and 
with  equal  natural  rights,  in  the  same  manner  as 
if  posterity  had  been  continued  by  creation  in- 
stead of  generation,  the  latter  being  only  the 
mode  by  which  the  former  is  carried  forward; 
and  consequently,  every  child  born  into  the 
world  must  be  considered  as  deriving  its  exist- 
ence from  God.  The  world  is  as  new  to  him  as 
it  was  to  the  first  man  that  existed,  and  his  nat- 
ural right  in  it  is  of  the  same  kind. 

The  JVIosaic  account  of  the  Creation,  whether 
taken  as  divine  authority  or  merely  historical,  is 
full  to  this  point,  tlie  unity  or  equality  of  man. 
The  expressions  admit  of  no  controversy.  "And 
God  said,  let  us  make  man  in  our  own  image.  In 
the  image  of  God  created  he  him;  male  and  fe- 
male created  he  them."  The  distinction  of  sexes 
is  pointed  out,  but  no  other  distinction  is  even 
implied.  If  this  be  not  divine  authority,  it  is  at 
least  historical  authority,  and  shows  that  the 
equality  of  man,  so  far  from  being  a  modern 
doctrine,  is  the  oldest  upon  record. 

It  is  also  to  be  observed,  that  all  the  religions 
known  in  the  world  are  founded,  so  far  as  they 
relate  to  man,  on  the  unity  of  man,  as  being  all 
of  one  degree.  Whether  in  heaven  or  in  hell,  or 
in  whatever  state  man  may  be  supposed  to  exist 

55 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

hereafter,  the  good  and  the  bad  are  the  only  dis- 
tinctions. Nay,  even  the  laws  of  governments 
are  obliged  to  shde  into  this  principle,  by  mak- 
ing degrees  to  consist  in  crimes  and  not  in 
persons. 

It  is  one  of  the  greatest  of  all  truths,  and  of 
the  highest  advantage  to  cultivate.  By  consider- 
ing man  in  this  light,  and  by  instructing  him  to 
consider  himself  in  this  light,  it  places  him  in  a 
close  connection  with  all  his  duties,  whether  to  his 
Creator  or  to  the  creation,  of  which  he  is  a  part; 
and  it  is  only  when  he  forgets  his  origin,  or,  to 
use  a  more  fashionable  phrase,  his  birth  and  fam- 
ily, that  he  becomes  dissolute. 

It  is  not  among  the  least  of  the  evils  of  the 
present  existing  governments  in  all  parts  of  Eu- 
rope, that  man,  considered  as  man,  is  thrown 
back  to  a  vast  distance  from  his  Maker,  and  the 
artificial  chasm  filled  up  by  a  succession  of  bar- 
riers, or  a  sort  of  turnpike  gates,  through  which 
he  has  to  pass. 

I  will  quote  Mr.  Burke's  catalogue  of  bar- 
riers that  he  has  set  up  between  man  and  his 
Maker.  Putting  himself  in  the  character  of  a 
herald,  he  says — "We  fear  God — we  look  with 
awe.  to  kings — with  affection  to  parliaments — 
with    duty   to   magistrates — with   reverence   to 

56 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

priests,  and  with  respect  to  nobility."  Mr.  Burke 
has  forgotten  to  put  in  "chivalry."  He  has  also 
forgotten  to  put  in  Peter. 

The  duty  of  man  is  not  a  wilderness  of  turn- 
pike gates,  through  which  he  is  to  pass  by  tickets 
from  one  to  the  other.  It  is  plain  and  simple, 
and  consists  but  of  two  points.  His  duty  to  God, 
which  every  man  must  feel;  and  with  respect 
to  his  neighbor,  to  do  as  he  would  be  done  by. 
If  those  to  whom  power  is  delegated  do  well, 
they  will  be  respected;  if  not,  they  will  be  de- 
spised; and  with  regard  to  those  to  whom  no 
power  is  delegated,  but  who  assume  it,  the  ra- 
tional world  can  know  nothing  of  them. 

Hitherto  we  have  spoken  only  (and  that  but 
in  part)  of  the  natural  rights  of  man.  We  have 
now  to  consider  the  civil  rights  of  man,  and  to 
show  how  the  one  originates  from  the  other. 
Man  did  not  enter  into  society  to  become  worse 
than  he  was  before,  nor  to  have  fewer  rights 
than  he  had  before,  but  to  have  those  rights  better 
secured.  His  natural  rights  are  the  foundation 
of  all  his  civil  rights.  But  in  order  to  pursue 
this  distinction  with  more  precision,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  make  the  different  qualities  of  natural 
and  civil  rights. 

A   few  words  wiU  explain  this.     Natural 

57 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

rights  are  those  which  appertain  to  man  in  right 
of  his  existence.  Of  this  kind  are  all  the  intel- 
lectual rights,  or  rights  of  the  mind,  and  also  all 
those  rights  of  acting  as  an  individual  for  his 
own  comfort  and  happiness,  which  are  not  in- 
jurious to  the  natural  rights  of  others. — Civil 
rights  are  those  which  appertain  to  man  in  right 
of  his  being  a  member  of  society. 

Every  civil  right  has  for  its  foundation  some 
natural  right  pre-existing  in  the  individual,  but 
to  the  enjoyment  of  which  his  individual  power  is 
not,  in  all  cases,  sufficiently  competent.  Of  this 
kind  are  all  those  which  relate  to  security  and 
protection. 

From  this  short  review,  it  will  be  easy  to  dis- 
tinguish between  that  class  of  natural  rights 
which  man  retains  after  entering  into  society, 
and  those  which  he  throws  into  the  common  stock 
as  a  member  of  society. 

The  natural  rights  which  he  retains,  are  all 
those  in  which  the  power  to  execute  is  as  perfect 
in  the  individual  as  the  right  itself.  Among  this 
class,  as  is  before  mentioned,  are  all  the  intellect- 
ual rights,  or  rights  of  the  mind:  consequently, 
religion  is  one  of  those  rights. 

The  natural  rights  which  are  not  retained, 
are  all  those  in  which,  though  the  right  is  per- 
58 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

feet  in  the  individual,  the  power  to  execute  them 
is  defective.  They  answer  not  his  purpose.  A 
man,  by  natural  right,  has  a  right  to  judge  in  his 
own  cause;  and  so  far  as  the  right  of  the  mind 
is  concerned,  he  never  surrenders  it:  but  what 
availeth  it  him  to  judge,  if  he  has  not  power  to 
redress?  He  therefore  deposits  his  right  in  the 
common  stock  of  society,  and  takes  the  arm  of 
society,  of  which  he  is  a  part,  in  preference  and 
in  addition  to  his  own.  Society  grants  him 
nothing.  Every  man  is  proprietor  in  society, 
and  draws  on  the  capital  as  a  matter  of  right. 

From  these  premises,  two  or  three  certain 
conclusions  will  follow. 

First,  That  every  civil  right  grows  out  of  a 
natural  right;  or,  in  other  words,  is  a  natural 
right  exchanged. 

Secondly,  That  civil  power,  properly  consid- 
ered as  such,  is  made  up  of  the  aggregate  of 
that  class  of  the  natural  rights  of  man,  which 
becomes  defective  in  the  individual  in  point  of 
power,  and  answers  not  his  purpose,  but  when 
collected  to  a  focus,  becomes  competent  to  the 
purpose  of  every  one. 

Thirdly,  That  the  power  produced  from  the 
aggregate  of  natural  rights,  imperfect  in  power 
in  the  individual,  cannot  be  applied  to  invade  the 

59 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

natural  rights  which  are  retained  in  the  individ- 
ual, and  in  which  the  power  to  execute  is  as  per- 
fect as  the  right  itself. 

We  have  now,  in  a  few  words,  traced  man 
from  a  natural  individual  to  a  member  of  society, 
and  shown,  or  endeavored  to  show,  the  quality 
of  the  natural  rights  retained,  and  those  which 
are  exchanged  for  civil  rights.  Let  us  now  ap- 
ply those  principles  to  governments. 

In  casting  our  eyes  over  the  world,  it  is  ex- 
tremely easy  to  distinguish  the  governments 
which  have  arisen  out  of  society,  or  out  of  the 
social  compact,  from  those  which  have  not :  but  to 
place  this  in  a  clearer  light  than  what  a  single 
glance  may  afford,  it  will  be  proper  to  take  a 
review  of  the  several  sources  from  which  the  gov- 
ernments have  arisen,  and  on  which  they  have 
been  founded. 

They  may  be  all  comprehended  under  three 
heads.  First,  superstition.  Secondly,  power. 
Thirdly,  the  common  interests  of  society,  and  the 
common  rights  of  man. 

The  first  was  a  government  of  priestcraft, 
the  second  of  conquerors,  and  the  tliird  of  reason. 

When  a  set  of  artful  men  pretended,  through 
the  medium  of  oracles,  to  hold  intercourse  with 
the  Deity,  as  famiharly  as  they  now  march  up 
60 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

the  back-stairs  in  European  courts,  the  world 
was  completely  under  the  government  of  super- 
stition. The  oracles  were  consulted,  and  what- 
ever they  were  made  to  say,  became  the  law ;  and 
this  sort  of  government  lasted  as  long  as  this  sort 
of  superstition  lasted. 

After  these  a  race  of  conquerors  arose,  whose 
government,  like  that  of  William  the  Conqueror, 
was  founded  in  power,  and  the  sword  assumed 
the  name  of  a  sceptre.  Governments  thus  es- 
tablished, last  as  long  as  the  power  to  support 
them  lasts;  but  that  they  might  avail  themselves 
of  every  engine  in  their  favor,  they  united  fraud 
to  force,  and  set  up  an  idol  which  they  called 
Divine  Rights  and  which,  in  imitation  of  the 
Pope,  who  affects  to  be  spiritual  and  temporal, 
and  in  contradiction  to  the  Founder  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  twisted  itself  afterwards  into  an 
idol  of  another  shape,  called  Church  and  State. 
The  key  of  St.  Peter,  and  the  key  of  the  Treas- 
ury, became  quartered  on  one  another,  and  the 
wondering,  cheated  multitude  worshipped  the 
invention. 

When  I  contemplate  the  natural  dignity  of 
man;  when  I  feel  (for  Nature  has  not  been  kind 
enough  to  me  to  blunt  my  feelings)  for  the  honor 
and  happiness  of  its  character,  I  become  irritated 

61 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

at  the  attempt  to  govern  mankind  by  force  and 
fraud,  as  if  they  were  all  knaves  and  fools,  and 
can  scarcely  avoid  disgust  at  those  who  are  thus 
imposed  upon. 

We  have  now  to  review  the  governments 
which  arise  out  of  society,  in  contradistinction  to 
those  which  arose  out  of  superstition  and  con- 
quest. 

It  has  been  thought  a  considerable  advance 
toward  establishing  the  principles  of  freedom, 
to  say,  that  government  is  a  compact  between 
those  who  govern  and  those  who  are  governed: 
but  this  cannot  be  true,  because  it  is  putting  the 
effect  before  the  cause;  for  as  man  must  have 
existed  before  governments  existed,  there  neces- 
sarily was  a  time  when  governments  did  not 
exist,  and  consequently  there  could  originally 
exist  no  governors  to  form  such  a  compact  with. 
A,  The  fact  therefore  must  be,  that  the  individ- 
uals  themselves,  each  in  his  own  personal  and  sov- 
ereign right,  entered  into  a  compact  with  each 
other  to  produce  a  government:  and  this  is  the 
only  mode  in  which  governments  have  a  right 
to  arise,  and  the  only  principle  on  whicH  they 
have  a  right  to  exist. 

To  possess  ourselves  of  a  clear  idea  of  what 
government  is,  or  ought  to  be,  we  must  trace  it 
62 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

to  its  origin.  In  doing  this,  we  shall  easily  dis- 
cover that  governments  must  have  arisen,  either 
out  of  the  people,  or  over  the  people.  INIr.  Burke 
has  made  no  distinction. 

He  investigates  nothing  to  its  source,  and 
therefore  he  confounds  every  thing;  but  he  has 
signified  his  intention  of  undertaking  at  some 
future  opportunity,  a  comparison  between  the 
constitutions  of  England  and  France. 

As  he  thus  renders  it  a  subject  of  controversy 
by  throwing  the  gauntlet,  I  take  him  upon  his 
own  ground.  It  is  in  high  challenges  that  high 
truths  have  the  right  of  appearing ;  and  I  accept 
it  w4th  the  more  readiness,  because  it  affords  me, 
at  the  same  time,  an  opportunity  of  pursuing  the 
subject  with  respect  to  governments  arising  out 
of  society. 

But  it  will  be  first  necessary  to  define  what 
is  meant  by  a  constitution.  It  is  not  sufficient 
that  we  adojit  the  word ;  we  must  fix  also  a  stand- 
ard signification  to  it. 

A  constitution  is  not  a  thing  in  name  only, 
but  in  fact.  It  has  not  an  ideal,  but  a  real  exist- 
ence; and  wherever  it  cannot  be  produced  in  a 
visible  form,  there  is  none.  A  constitution  is  a 
thing  antecedent  to  a  government,  and  a  govern- 
ment is  only  the  creature  of  a  constitution.    The 

63 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

constitution  of  a  country  is  not  the  act  of  its 
government,  but  of  the  people  constituting  a 
government. 

It  is  the  body  of  elements,  to  which  you  can 
refer,  and  quote  article  by  article ;  and  which  con- 
tains the  principles  on  which  the  government  shall 
be  established,  the  manner  in  which  it  shall  be  or- 
ganized, the  powers  it  shall  have,  the  mode  of 
elections,  the  duration  of  parliaments,  or  by  what 
other  name  such  bodies  may  be  called ;  the  powers 
which  the  executive  part  of  the  government  shall 
have;  and,  in  fine,  every  thing  that  relates  to  the 
complete  organization  of  a  civil  government,  and 
the  principles  on  which  it  shall  act,  and  by  which 
it  shaU  be  bound. 

A  constitution,  therefore,  is  to  a  government, 
what  the  laws  made  afterwards  by  that  govern- 
ment are  to  a  court  of  judicature.  The  court  of 
judicature  does  not  make  the  laws,  neither  can 
it  alter  them;  it  only  acts  in  conformity  to  the 
laws  made:  and  the  government  is  in  like  man- 
ner governed  by  the  constitution. 

Can  then  Mr.  Burke  produce  the  English 
Constitution?  If  he  cannot,  we  may  fairly  con- 
clude, that  though  it  has  been  so  much  talked 
about,  no  such  tiling  as  a  constitution  exists,  or 
ever  did  exist,  and  consequently  that  the  people 
64 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

have  yet  a  constitution  to  form.  Mr.  Burke  wiU 
not,  I  presume,  deny  the  position  I  have  abeady 
advanced ;  namely,  that  governments  arise,  either 
out  of  the  people,  or  over  the  people.  The  Eng- 
lish Government  is  one  of  those  which  arose  out 
of  a  conquest,  and  not  out  of  society,  and  conse- 
quently it  arose  over  the  people;  and  though  it 
has  been  much  modified  from  the  opportunity  of 
circumstances  since  the  time  of  William  the  Con- 
queror, the  country  has  never  yet  regenerated 
itself,  and  is  therefore  without  a  constitution. 

I  readily  perceive  the  reason  why  Mr.  Burke 
declined  going  into  the  comparison  between  the 
English  and  French  constitutions,  because  he 
could  not  but  perceive,  when  he  sat  down  to  the 
task,  that  no  such  thing  as  a  constitution  existed 
on  his  side  the  question.  His  book  is  certainly 
bulky  enough  to  have  contained  all  he  could  say 
on  this  subject,  and  it  would  have  been  the  best 
manner  in  which  people  could  have  judged  of 
their  separate  merits. 

Why  then  has  he  declined  the  only  thing  that 
was  worth  while  to  write  upon?  It  was  the 
strongest  ground  he  could  take,  if  the  advantages 
were  on  his  side;  but  the  weakest,  if  they  were 
not;  and  his  declining  to  take  it,  is  either  a  sign 
that  he  could  not  possess  it,  or  could  not  main- 

65 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

tain  it.  INIr.  Burke  said  in  a  speech  last  winter  in 
Parliament,  That  when  the  National  Assembly 
first  met  in  three  Orders,  (the  Tiers  Etats,  the 
Clergy,  and  the  Noblesse,)  France  had  then  a 
good  constitution.  This  shows,  among  numer- 
ous other  instances,  that  Mr.  Burke  does  not 
understand  what  a  constitution  is.  The  persons 
so  met,  were  not  a  constitution,  but  a  convention, 
to  make  a  constitution. 

The  present  National  Assembly  of  France  is, 
strictly  speaking,  the  personal  social  compact. 
The  members  of  it  are  the  delegates  of  the  nation 
in  its  original  character;  future  assemblies  will 
be  the  delegates  of  the  nation  in  its  organized 
character. 

The  authority  of  the  present  Assembly  is 
different  to  what  the  authority  of  future  assem- 
blies wiU  be.  The  authority  of  the  present  one 
is  to  form  a  constitution ;  the  authority  of  future 
assemblies  will  be  to  legislate  according  to  the 
principles  and  forms  prescribed  in  that  constitu- 
tion; and  if  experience  should  hereafter  show 
that  alterations,  amendments,  or  additions  are 
necessary,  the  constitution  will  point  out  the 
mode  by  which  such  things  shall  be  done,  and 
not  leave  it  to  the  discretionary  power  of  the 
future  government. 
66 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

A  government  on  the  principles  on  which 
constitutional  governments,  arising  out  of  so- 
ciety are  estahlished,  cannot  have  the  right  of 
altering  itself.  If  it  had,  it  would  be  arbitrary. 
It  might  make  itself  what  it  pleased;  and 
wherever  such  a  right  is  set  up,  it  shows  that  there 
is  no  constitution. 

The  act  by  which  the  English  Parliament  em- 
powered itself  to  sit  for  seven  years,  shows  there 
is  no  constitution  in  England.  It  might,  by  the 
same  self  authority,  have  set  any  greater  number 
of  years  or  for  life.  The  bill  which  the  present 
Mr.  Pitt  brought  into  Parliament  some  years  ago, 
to  reform  Parliament,  was  on  the  same  erroneous 
principle. 

The  right  of  reform  is  in  the  nation  in  its 
original  character,  and  the  constitutional  method 
would  be  by  a  general  convention  elected  for 
the  purpose.  There  is,  moreover,  a  paradox  in 
the  idea  of  vitiated  bodies  reforming  themselves. 

From  these  preliminaries  I  proceed  to  draw 
some  comparisons.  I  have  already  spoken  of  the 
Declaration  of  Rights;  and  as  I  mean  to  be  as 
concise  as  possible,  I  shall  proceed  to  other  parts 
of  the  French  Constitution. 

The  Constitution  of  France  says,  that  every 
man  who  pays  a  tax  of  sixty  sous  per  annum  {2s. 

67 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

and  6  d.  English)  is  an  elector.  What  article 
wiU  Mr.  Burke  place  against  this?  Can  any 
thing  be  more  limited,  and  at  the  same  time  more 
capricious,  than  what  the  qualifications  are  in 
England? 

Limited — because  not  one  man  in  a  hundred 
(I  speak  much  within  compass)  is  admitted  to 
vote:  capricious — because  the  lowest  character 
that  can  be  supposed  to  exist,  and  who  has  not 
so  much  as  the  visible  means  of  an  honest  live- 
lihood, is  an  elector  in  some  places  while,  in  other 
places,  the  man  who  pays  very  large  taxes,  and 
with  a  known  fair  character,  and  the  farmer  who 
rents  to  the  amount  of  three  or  four  hundred 
pounds  a  year,  and  with  a  property  on  that  farm 
to  three  or  four  times  that  amount,  is  not  ad- 
mitted to  be  an  elector. 

Every  thing  is  out  of  nature,  as  Mr.  Burke 
says  on  another  occasion,  in  this  strange  chaos, 
and  all  sorts  of  follies  are  blended  with  all  sorts 
of  crimes.  WiUiam  the  Conqueror,  and  his  de- 
scendants, parcelled  out  the  country  in  this  man- 
ner, and  bribed  one  part  of  it  by  what  they  called 
charters,  to  hold  the  other  parts  of  it  the  better 
subjected  to  their  will.  This  is  the  reason  why 
so  many  of  those  charters  abound  in  Cornwall. 

The  people  were  averse  to  the  government  es- 

68 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

tablished  at  the  Conquest,  and  the  towns  were 
garrisoned  and  bribed  to  enslave  the  country. 
All  the  old  charters  are  the  badges  of  this  con- 
quest, and  it  is  from  this  source  that  the 
capriciousness  of  election  arises. 

The  French  Constitution  says,  that  the  num- 
ber of  representatives  for  any  place  shall  be  in  a 
ratio  to  the  number  of  taxable  inhabitants  or 
electors.  What  article  will  Mr.  Burke  place 
against  this?  The  county  of  Yorkshire,  which 
contains  near  a  million  souls,  sends  two  county 
members;  and  so  does  the  county  of  Rutland, 
which  contains  not  a  hundredth  part  of  that 
number. 

The  town  of  old  Sarum  which  contains  not 
three  houses,  sends  two  members;  and  the  town 
of  Manchester,  which  contains  upward  of  sixty 
thousand  souls,  is  not  admitted  to  send  any.  Is 
there  any  principle  in  these  things?  Is  there  any 
thing  by  which  you  can  trace  the  marks  of  free- 
dom or  discover  those  of  wisdom?  No  wonder, 
then,  Mr.  Burke  has  declined  the  comparison, 
and  endeavored  to  lead  his  readers  from  the  point 
by  a  wild,  unsystematical  display  of  paradoxial 
rhapsodies. 

The  French  Constitution  says,  that  the  Na- 
tional Assembly  shall  be  elected  every  two  years. 

69 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

What  article  will  ]Mr.  Burke  place  against  this? 
Why,  that  the  nation  has  no  right  at  all  in  the 
case:  that  the  Government  is  perfectly  arbitrary 
with  respect  to  this  point;  and  he  can  quote  for 
his  authority  the  precedent  of  a  former  parlia- 
ment. 

The  French  Constitution  says,  there  shall 
be  no  game  laws;  that  the  farmer  on  whose 
land  wild  game  shall  be  found  (for  it  is  by  the 
produce  of  those  lands  they  are  fed)  shall  have 
a  right  to  what  he  can  take.  That  there  shall  be 
no  monopolies  of  any  kind,  that  all  trades  shall 
be  free,  and  every  man  free  to  follow  any  occu- 
pation by  which  he  can  procure  an  honest  liveli- 
hood, and  in  any  place,  town,  or  city,  throughout 
the  nation.     What  will  Mr.  Burke  say  to  this? 

In  England  game  is  made  the  property  of 
those  at  whose  expense  it  is  not  fed;  and  with 
respect  to  monopolies,  the  country  is  cut  up  into 
monopolies.  Every  chartered  town  is  an  aristo- 
cratic monopoly  in  itself,  and  the  qualification  of 
electors  proceeds  out  of  those  chartered  monopo- 
lies. Is  this  freedom?  Is  this  what  Mr.  Burke 
means  by  a  constitution? 

In  these  chartered  monopolies,  a  man  coming 
from  another  part  of  the  country  is  hunted  from 
them  as  if  he  were  a  foreign  enemy.  An  Eng- 
70 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

lishman  is  not  free  in  his  own  country:  Every 
one  of  those  places  presents  a  barrier  in  his  way, 
and  tells  him  he  is  not  a  freeman — that  he  has 
no  rights. 

Within  these  monopolies  are  other  monopo- 
lies. In  a  city,  such  for  instance,  as  Bath,  which 
contains  between  twenty  and  thirty  thousand  in- 
habitants, the  right  of  electing  representatives 
to  Parliament  is  monopolized  by  about  thirty- 
one  persons.  And  within  these  monopolies  are 
still  others.  A  man,  even  of  the  same  town, 
whose  parents  were  not  in  circumstances  to  give 
him  an  occupation,  is  debarred,  in  many  cases, 
from  the  natural  right  of  acquiring  one,  be  his 
genius  or  industry  what  it  may. 

Are  these  things  examples  to  hold  out  to  a 
country  regenerating  itself  from  slavery,  like 
France?  Certainly  they  are  not;  and  certain  am 
I,  that  when  the  people  of  England  come  to  re- 
flect upon  them,  they  will,  like  France,  annihilate 
those  badges  of  ancient  oppression,  those  traces 
of  a  conquered  nation. 

Had  Mr.  Burke  possessed  talents  similar  to 
the  author  of  "On  the  Wealth  of  Nations,"  he 
would  have  comprehended  all  the  parts  which 
enter  into,  and,  by  assemblage,  form  a  constitu- 
tion.   He  would  have  reasoned  from  minutiae  to 

71 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

magnitude.  It  is  not  from  his  prejudices  only, 
but  from  the  disorderly  cast  of  his  genius,  that  he 
is  unfitted  for  the  subject  he  writes  upon. 

Even  his  genius  is  without  a  constitution.  It 
is  a  genius  at  random,  and  not  a  genius  consti- 
tuted. But  he  must  say  something. — He  has 
therefore  mounted  in  the  air  like  a  balloon,  to 
draw  the  eyes  of  the  multitude  from  the  ground 
they  stand  upon. 

Much  is  to  be  learned  from  the  French  Con- 
stitution. Conquest  and  tyranny  transplanted 
themselves  with  WiUiam  the  Conqueror  from 
Normandy  into  England,  and  the  country  is  yet 
disfigured  with  the  marks.  May  then  the  ex- 
ample of  all  France  contribute  to  regenerate  the 
freedom  which  a  province  of  it  destroyed! 

The  French  Constitution  says.  That  to  pre- 
serve the  national  representation  from  being  cor- 
rupt, no  member  of  the  National  Assembly  shall 
be  an  officer  of  the  government,  a  place-man,  or 
a  pensioner. — What  will  Mr.  Burke  place 
against  this?  I  will  whisper  his  answer:  Loaves 
and  Fishes. 

Ah!  this  government  of  loaves  and  fishes  has 
more  mischief  in  it  than  people  have  yet  reflected 
on.  The  National  Assembly  has  made  the  dis- 
covery, and  it  holds  out  the  example  to  the  world. 
72 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

Had  governments  agreed  to  quarrel  on  purpose 
to  fleece  their  countries  by  taxes,  they  could  not 
have  succeeded  better  than  they  have  done. 

Many  things  in  the  English  Government  ap- 
pear to  me  the  reverse  of  what  they  ought  to 
be,  and  of  what  they  are  said  to  be.  The  Par- 
liament, imperfectly  and  capriciously  elected  as 
it  is,  is  nevertheless  supposed  to  hold  the  national 
purse  in  trust  for  the  nation:  but  in  the  manner 
in  which  an  English  parliament  is  constructed,  it 
is  like  a  man  being  both  mortgager  and  mort- 
gagee ;  and  in  the  case  of  misapplication  of  trust, 
it  is  the  criminal  sitting  in  judgment  upon  him- 
self. 

If  those  who  vote  the  supplies  are  the  same 
persons  who  receive  the  supplies  when  voted,  and 
are  to  account  for  the  expenditure  of  those  sup- 
plies who  voted  them,  it  is  themselves  accountable 
to  themselves^  and  the  Comedy  of  Errors  con- 
cludes with  the  Pantomime  of  Hush.  Neither 
the  ministerial  party,  nor  the  opposition,  will 
touch  upon  this  case.  The  national  purse  is  the 
common  hack  which  each  mounts  upon.  It  is 
like  what  the  country  people  call,  "Ride  and  tie 
• — You  ride  a  little  way,  and  then  I."* — They 
order  these  things  better  in  France. 

*  It  is  a  practise  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  when  two  trav- 

73 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

The  French  Constitution  says,  that  the  right 
of  war  and  peace  is  in  the  nation.  Where  else 
should  it  reside  but  in  those  who  are  to  pa}^  the 
expense? 

In  England,  this  right  is  said  to  reside  in  a 
metaphor,  shown  at  the  Tower  for  six-pence  or 
a  shilling  a-piece :  So  are  the  lions ;  and  it  would 
be  a  step  nearer  to  reason  to  say  it  resided  in 
them,  for  any  inanimate  metaphor  is  no  more 
than  a  hat  or  a  cap.  We  can  all  see  the  absurdity 
of  worshipping  Aaron's  molten  calf,  or  Neb- 
uchadnezzar's golden  image;  but  why  do  men 
continue  to  practise  on  themselves  the  absurdities 
they  despise  in  others? 

It  may  with  reason  be  said,  that  in  the  manner 
the  English  nation  is  represented,  it  signifies  not 
where  this  right  resides,  whether  in  the  Crown 
or  in  the  Parliament.  War  is  the  common  har- 
vest of  all  those  who  participate  in  the  division 
and  expenditure  of  public  money,  in  all  coun- 
tries. 

It  is  the  art  of  conquering  at  home:  the  object 
of  it  is  an  increase  of  revenue;  and  as  revenue 

ellers  have  but  one  horse,  which  like  the  national  purse  wiU  not 
carry  double,  that  the  one  mounts  and  rides  two  or  three  miles 
a-head,  and  then  ties  the  horse  to  a  gate,  and  walks  on.  When 
the  second  traveller  arrives,  he  takes  the  horse,  rides  on,  and 
passes  his  companion  a  mile  or  two,  and  ties  again;  and  so  on — 
I?»de  and  tie. 

74 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

cannot  be  increased  without  taxes,  a  pretense 
must  be  made  for  expenditures.  In  reviewing 
the  history  of  the  EngHsh  Government,  its  wars 
and  its  taxes,  a  bystander,  not  bh'nded  by  pre- 
judice, nor  warped  by  interest,  w^ould  declare, 
that  taxes  were  not  raised  to  carry  on  wars,  but 
that  wars  were  raised  to  carry  on  taxes. 

Mr.  Burke,  as  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  is  a  part  of  the  English  Government ; 
and  though  he  professes  himself  an  enemy  to 
war,  he  abuses  the  French  Constitution,  which 
seeks  to  explode  it.  He  holds  up  the  English 
Government  as  a  model  in  all  its  parts,  to 
France;  but  he  should  first  know  the  remarks 
which  the  French  make  upon  it. 

They  contend,  in  favor  of  their  own,  that  the 
portion  of  liberty  enjoyed  in  England,  is  just 
enough  to  enslave  a  country  by,  more  pro- 
ductively than  by  despotism ;  and  that  as  the  real 
object  of  all  despotism  is  revenue,  a  government 
so  formed  obtains  more  than  it  could  do  either 
by  direct  despotism,  or  in  a  full  state  of  freedom, 
and  is  therefore,  on  the  ground  of  interest,  op- 
posed to  both. 

They  account  also  for  the  readiness  which 
always  appears  in  such  governments  for  engag- 
ing in  wars,  by  remarking  on  the  different  mo- 

75 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

tlves  which  produce  them.  In  despotic  govern- 
ments, wars  are  the  effect  of  pride;  but  in  those 
governments  in  which  they  become  the  means  of 
taxation,  they  acquire  thereby  a  more  permanent 
promptitude. 

The  French  Constitution,  therefore,  to  pro- 
vide against  both  these  evils,  has  taken  away  the 
power  of  declaring  war  from  kings  and  minis- 
ters, and  placed  the  right  where  the  expense  must 
fall. 

When  the  question  on  the  right  of  war  and 
peace  was  agitating  in  the  National  Assembly, 
the  people  of  England  appeared  to  be  much  in- 
terested in  the  event,  and  highly  to  applaud  the 
decision. — As  a  principle,  it  applies  as  much  to 
one  country  as  to  another.  Wilham  the  Con- 
queror, as  a  conqueror  J  held  this  power  of  war 
and  peace  in  himself,  and  his  descendants  have 
ever  since  claimed  it  under  him  as  a  right. 

Although  Mr.  Burke  has  asserted  the  right  of 
the  Parliament  at  the  Revolution  to  bind  and 
control  the  nation  and  posterity  for  ever,  he  de- 
nies, at  the  same  time,  that  the  Parliament  or  the 
nation  had  any  right  to  alter  what  he  calls  the 
succession  of  the  Crown,  in  any  thing  but  in  part, 
or  by  a  sort  of  modification. 

By  his  taking  this  ground,  he  throws  the  case 

76 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

back  to  the  Norman  Conquest;  and  by  thus  run- 
ning a  hne  of  succession  springing  from  Wil- 
liam the  Conqueror  to  the  present  day,  he  makes 
it  necessary  to  inquire  who  and  what  William 
the  Conqueror  was,  and  where  he  came  from ;  and 
into  the  origin,  history,  and  nature  of  what  are 
called  prerogatives. 

Every  thing  must  have  had  a  beginning,  and 
the  fog  of  time  and  antiquity  should  be  pene- 
trated to  discover  it.  Let  then  Mr.  Burke  bring 
forward  his  William  of  Normandy,  for  it  is  to 
this  origin  that  his  argument  goes.  It  also  un- 
fortunately happens,  in  running  this  line  of  suc- 
cession, that  another  line,  parallel  thereto,  pre- 
sents itself,  which  is,  that  if  the  succession  runs 
in  the  line  of  the  Conquest,  the  nation  runs  in 
the  line  of  being  conquered,  and  it  ought  to  res- 
cue itself  from  this  reproach. 

But  it  will  perhaps  be  said,  that  though  the 
power  of  declaring  war  descends  in  the  heritage 
of  the  Conquest,  it  is  held  in  check  by  the  right  of 
the  Parliament  to  withhold  the  supplies.  It  will 
always  happen,  when  a  thing  is  originally  wrong, 
that  amendments  do  not  make  it  right;  and  it 
often  happens,  that  they  do  as  much  mischief  one 
way  as  good  the  other:  and  such  is  the  case  here; 
for  if  the  one  rashly  declares  war  as  a  matter  of 

77 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

right,  and  the  other  peremptorily  witliholds  the 
supplies  as  a  matter  of  right,  the  remedy  becomes 
as  bad,  or  worse  than  the  disease. 

The  one  forces  the  nation  to  a  combat,  and  the 
other  ties  its  hands:  But  the  more  probable  issue 
is,  that  the  contest  will  end  in  a  collusion  between 
the  parties,  and  be  made  a  screen  to  both. 

On  this  question  of  war,  three  things  are  to 
be  considered.  First,  the  right  of  declaring  it: 
Secondly,  the  expense  of  supporting  it:  Thirdly, 
the  mode  of  conducting  it  after  it  is  declared. 
The  French  Constitution  places  the  right  where 
the  expense  must  fall,  and  this  union  can  be  only 
in  the  nation.  The  mode  of  conducting  it  after 
it  is  declared,  it  consigns  to  the  executive  depart- 
ment. Were  this  the  case  in  all  countries,  we 
should  hear  but  little  more  of  wars. 

Before  I  proceed  to  consider  other  parts  of 
the  French  Constitution,  and  by  way  of  relieving 
the  fatigue  of  argument,  I  will  introduce  an 
anecdote  which  I  had  from  Dr.  Franklin. 

While  the  Doctor  resided  in  France,  as  min- 
ister from  America,  during  the  war,  he  had 
numerous  proposals  made  to  him  by  projectors 
of  every  country  and  of  every  kind,  who  wished 
to  go  to  the  land  that  floweth  with  milk  and 
honey,  America;  and  among  the  rest,  there  was 

7.8 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

one  who  offered  himself  to  be  king.  He  intro- 
duced his  proposal  to  the  Doctor  by  letter,  which 
is  now  in  the  hands  of  M.  Beaumarchais,  of 
Paris — stating,  first,  that  as  the  Americans  had 
dismissed  or  sent  away  *  their  king,  they  would 
want  another.  Secondly,  that  himself  was  a 
Norman.  Thirdly,  that  he  was  of  a  more  ancient 
family  than  the  Dukes  of  Normandy,  and  of  a 
more  honorable  descent,  his  line  having  never 
been  bastardized.  Fourthly,  that  there  was  al- 
ready a  precedent  in  England,  of  kings  coming 
out  of  Normandy ;  and  on  these  grounds  he  rested 
his  offer,  enjoining  that  the  Doctor  would  for- 
ward it  to  America. 

But  as  the  Doctor  did  neither  this,  nor  yet 
sent  him  an  answer,  the  projector  wrote  a  second 
letter;  in  which  he  did  not,  it  is  true,  threaten 
to  go  over  and  conquer  America,  but  only,  with 
great  dignity,  proposed,  that  if  his  offer  was 
not  accepted,  an  acknowledgement  of  about 
£30,000  might  be  made  to  him  for  his  gener- 
osity ! 

Now,  as  all  arguments  respecting  succession 
must  necessarily  connect  that  succession  with 
some  beginning,  Mr.  Burke's  arguments  on  this 
subject  go  to  show  that  there  is  no  English  origin 

*  The  word  he  used  was  renvoyi,  dismissed  or  sent  away. 

79 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

of  kings,  and  that  they  are  descendants  of  the 
Norman  hne  in  right  of  the  Conquest. 

It  may,  therefore,  be  of  service  to  his  doc- 
trine to  make  this  story  known,  and  to  inform 
him  that  in  case  of  that  natural  distinction  to 
which  all  mortality  is  subject,  kings  may  again  be 
had  from  Normandy,  on  more  reasonable  terms 
than  William  the  Conqueror;  and  consequently, 
that  the  good  people  of  England,  at  the  Revolu- 
tion of  1688,  might  have  done  much  better,  had 
such  a  generous  Norman  as  this  known  their 
wants,  and  they  his. 

The  chivalric  character  which  Mr.  Burke  so 
much  admires,  is  certainly  much  easier  to  make 
a  bargain  with  than  a  hard-dealing  Dutchman. 
But  to  return  to  the  matters  of  the  Constitu- 
tion.— 

The  French  Constitution  says,  there  shall  he 
no  titles;  and  of  consequence,  all  that  class  of 
equivocal  generation,  which  in  some  countries  is 
called  "aristocracy/^  and  in  others  ''nobility/' 
is  done  away,  and  the  peer  is  exalted  into  man. 

Titles  are  but  nicknames,  and  every  nick- 
name is  a  title.  The  thing  is  perfectly  harmless 
in  itself,  but  it  marks  a  sort  of  foppery  in  the 
human  character  which  degrades  it.  It  renders 
man  diminutive  in  things  which  are  great,  and 
80 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

the  counterfeit  of  woman  in  things  which  are  ht- 
tle.  It  talks  about  its  fine  blue  riband  like  a  girl, 
and  shows  its  new  garter  like  a  child.  A  certain 
writer,  of  some  antiquity,  says,  "When  I  was  a 
child,  I  thought  as  a  child:  but  when  I  became 
a  man,  I  put  away  childish  things." 

It  is,  properly,  from  the  elevated  mind  of 
France,  that  the  folly  of  titles  has  been  abolished. 
It  has  outgrown  the  babyclothes  of  count  and 
duke,  and  breeched  itself  in  manhood.  France 
has  not  levelled,  it  has  exalted.  It  has  put  down 
the  dwarf  to  set  up  the  man.  The  insignificance 
of  a  senseless  word  like  duke,  count,  or  earl, 
has  ceased  to  please.  Even  those  who  possessed 
them,  have  disowned  the  gibberish,  and,  as  they 
outgrew  the  rickets,   have   despised  the   rattle. 

The  genuine  mind  of  man,  thirsting  for  its 
native  home,  society,  contemns  the  gewgaws  that 
separate  him  from  it.  Titles  are  like  circles  drawn 
by  the  magician's  wand,  to  contract  the  sphere  of 
man's  felicity.  He  lives  immured  within  the  Bas- 
tille of  a  word,  and  surveys  at  a  distance  the  en- 
vied life  of  man. 

Is  it  then  any  wonder  that  titles  should  fall 
in  France?  Is  it  not  a  greater  wonder  they 
should  be  kept  up  anywhere?  What  are  they? 
What  is  their  worth,  and  "what  is  their  amount?" 

81 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

When  we  think  or  speak  of  a  judge  or  a  gen- 
eral, we  associate  with  it  the  ideas  of  office  and 
character;  we  think  of  gravity  in  the  one,  and 
bravery  in  the  other;  but  when  we  use  a  word 
merely   as   a   title,   no   ideas   associate   with   it. 

Through  all  the  vocabulary  of  Adam,  there  is 
no  such  an  animal  as  a  duke  or  a  count;  neither 
can  we  connect  any  idea  to  the  words.  Whether 
they  mean  strength  or  weakness,  wisdom  or  folly, 
a  child  or  a  man,  or  a  rider  or  a  horse,  is  all  equi- 
vocal. What  respect  then  can  be  paid  to  that 
which  describes  nothing,  and  which  means 
nothing?  Imagination  has  given  figure  and 
character  to  centaurs,  satyrs,  and  down  to  all  the 
fairy  tribe;  but  titles  baffle  even  the  powers  of 
fancy,  and  are  a  chimerical  nondescript. 

But  this  is  not  all.  If  a  whole  country  is  dis- 
posed to  hold  them  in  contempt,  all  their  value  is 
gone,  and  none  will  own  them.  It  is  common 
opinion  only  that  makes  them  any  thing  or 
nothing,  or  worse  than  nothing.  There  is  no  oc- 
casion to  take  titles  away,  for  they  take  them- 
selves away  when  society  concurs  to  ridicule 
them.  This  species  of  imaginary  consequence 
has  visibly  declined  in  every  part  of  Europe,  and 
it  hastens  to  its  exit  as  the  world  of  reason  con- 
tinues to  rise. 
82 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

There  was  a  time  when  the  lowest  class  of 
what  are  called  nobihty,  was  more  thought  of 
than  the  highest  is  now,  and  when  a  man  in  armor 
riding  through  Christendom  in  search  of  adven- 
ture was  more  stared  at  than  a  modern  duke. 
The  world  has  seen  this  folly  fall,  and  it  has 
fallen  by  being  laughed  at,  and  the  farce  of  titles 
will  follow  its  fate. 

The  patriots  of  France  have  discovered  in 
good  time,  that  rank  and  dignity  in  society  must 
take  a  new  ground.  The  old  one  has  fallen 
through.  It  must  now  take  the  substantial 
ground  of  character,  instead  of  the  chimerical 
ground  of  titles;  and  they  have  brought  their 
titles  to  the  altar,  and  made  of  them  a  burnt- 
offering  to  Reason. 

If  no  mischief  had  annexed  itself  to  the  folly 
of  titles,  they  would  not  have  been  worth  a  se- 
rious and  formal  destruction,  such  as  the  Na- 
tional Assembly  have  decreed  them:  and  this 
makes  it  necessary  to  inquire  further  into  the 
nature  and  character  of  aristocracy. 

That,  then,  which  is  called  aristocracy  in  some 
countries,  and  nobihty  in  others,  arose  out  of 
the  governments  founded  upon  conquest.  It  was 
originally  a  military  order,  for  the  purpose  of 
supporting  military  government;  (for  such  were 

83 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

all  governments  founded  in  conquest),  and  to 
keep  up  a  succession  of  this  order  for  the  pur- 
pose for  which  it  was  established,  all  the  younger 
branches  of  those  families  were  disinherited,  and 
the  law  of  primogenitureship  set  up. 

The  nature  and  character  of  aristocracy 
shows  itself  to  us  in  this  law.  It  is  a  law  against 
every  law  of  nature,  and  nature  herself  calls  for 
its  destruction.  Establish  family  justice,  and 
aristocracy  falls.  By  the  aristocratical  law  of 
primogenitureship,  in  a  family  of  six  children, 
five  are  exposed.  Aristocracy  has  never  more 
than  one  child.  The  rest  are  begotten  to  be  de- 
voured. They  are  thrown  to  the  cannibal  for 
prey,  and  the  natural  parent  prepares  the  un- 
natural repast. 

As  every  thing  which  is  out  of  nature  in  man, 
affects,  more  or  less,  the  interest  of  society,  so 
does  this.  All  the  children  which  the  aristocracy 
disowns  (which  are  all,  except  the  eldest)  are,  in 
general,  cast  like  orphans  on  a  parish,  to  be  pro- 
vided for  by  the  public,  but  at  a  greater  charge. 
Unnecessary  offices  and  places  in  governments 
and  courts  are  created  at  the  expense  of  the  pub- 
lic, to  maintain  them. 

With  what  kind  of  parental  reflections  can 
the  father  or  mother  contemplate  their  younger 

84 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

oif spring?  By  nature  they  are  children,  and  by 
marriage  they  are  heirs;  but  by  aristocracy  they 
are  bastards  and  orphans.  They  are  the  flesh  and 
blood  of  their  parents  in  one  line,  and  nothing 
akin  to  them  in  the  other.  To  restore,  therefore, 
parents  to  their  children,  and  children  to  their 
parents — relations  to  each  other,  and  man  to  so- 
ciety— and  to  exterminate  the  monster,  aristoc- 
racy, root  and  branch — the  French  Constitution 
has  destroyed  the  law  of  Primogenitureship. 
Here  then  lies  the  monster;  and  Mr.  Burke,  if 
he  pleases,  may  write  its  epitaph. 

Hitherto  we  have  considered  aristocracy 
chiefly  in  one  point  of  view.  We  have  now  to 
consider  it  in  another.  But  whether  we  view  it 
before  or  behind,  or  sideways,  or  any  way  else, 
domestically  or  publicly,  it  is  still  a  monster. 

In  France,  aristocracy  has  one  feature  less, 
in  its  countenance,  than  what  it  has  in  some  other 
countries.  It  did  not  compose  a  body  of  heredi- 
tary legislators.  It  was  not  "  a  corporation  of 
aristocracy,"  for  such  I  have  heard  M.  de  la  Fay- 
ette describe  an  English  House  of  Peers.  Let  us 
then  examine  the  grounds  upon  which  the  French 
Constitution  has  resolved  against  having  such  a 
House  in  France. 

Because,  in  the  fii'st  place,  as  is  already  men- 

85 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

tioned,  aristocracy  is  kept  up  by  family  tjrranny 
and  injustice. 

Secondly,  Because  there  is  an  unusual  unfit- 
ness in  an  aristocracy  to  be  legislators  for  a 
nation.  Their  ideas  of  distributive  justice  are 
corrupted  at  the  very  source.  They  begin  life  by 
trampling  on  all  their  younger  brothers  and  sis- 
ters, and  relations  of  everj^  kind,  and  are  taught 
and  educated  so  to  do.  With  what  ideas  of  jus- 
tice or  honor  can  that  man  enter  a  house  of  leg- 
islation, who  absorbs  in  his  own  person  the  in- 
heritance of  a  whole  family  of  children,  or  doles 
out  to  them  some  pitiful  portion  with  the  inso- 
lence of  a  gift? 

Thirdly,  Because  the  idea  of  hereditary  leg- 
islators is  as  inconsistent  as  that  of  hereditary 
judges,  or  hereditary  juries;  and  as  absurd  as  an 
hereditary  mathematician,  or  an  hereditary  wise 
man;  and  as  ridiculous  as  an  hereditary  poet- 
laureate. 

Fourthly,  Because  a  body  of  men  holding 
themselves  accountable  to  nobody,  ought  not  to 
be  trusted  by  any  body. 

Fifthly,  Because  it  is  continuing  the  uncivil- 
ized principles  of  the  governments  founded  in 
conquest,  and  the  base  idea  of  man  having  prop- 
erty in  man,  and  governing  him  by  personal  right. 
86 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

Sixthly,  Because  aristocracy  has  a  tendency 
to  degenerate  the  human  species.  By  the  uni- 
versal economy  of  nature  it  is  known,  and  by  the 
instance  of  the  Jews  it  is  proved,  that  the  human 
species  has  a  tendency  to  degenerate,  in  any  small 
number  of  persons,  when  separated  from  the 
general  stock  of  society,  and  intermarrying  con- 
stantly with  each  other. 

It  defeats  even  its  pretended  end,  and  becomes 
in  time  the  opposite  of  what  is  noble  in  man.  INIr. 
Burke  talks  of  nobility;  let  him  show  what  it  is. 
The  greatest  characters  the  world  has  known, 
have  risen  on  the  democratic  floor.  Aristocracy 
has  not  been  able  to  keep  a  proportionate  pace 
with  democracy. 

The  artificial  Noble  shrinks  into  a  dw^arf  be- 
fore the  Noble  of  Nature;  and  in  the  few  in- 
stances of  those  (for  there  are  some  in  all  coun- 
tries) in  whom  nature,  as  by  a  miracle,  has  sur- 
vived in  aristocracy,  those  men  despise  it.  But 
it  is  time  to  proceed  to  a  new  subject. 

The  French  Constitution  has  reformed  the 
condition  of  the  clergy.  It  has  raised  the  income 
of  the  lower  and  middle  classes,  and  taken  from 
the  higher.  None  is  now  less  than  twelve  hun- 
dred livres  (fifty  pounds  sterling),  nor  any 
higher  than  about  two  or  three  thousand  pounds. 

87 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

What  will  Mr.  Burke  place  against  this?  Hear 
what  he  says: 

He  says,  "That  the  people  of  England  can 
see  without  pain  or  grudging,  an  archbishop  pre- 
cede a  duke;  they  can  see  a  bishop  of  Durham, 
or  a  bishop  of  Winchester,  in  possession  of  ^10,- 

000  a  year;  and  cannot  see  why  it  is  in  worse 
hands  than  estates  to  the  like  amount  in  the  hands 
of  this  earl  or  that  'squire."  And  Mr.  Burke 
offers  this  as  an  example  to  France. 

As  to  the  first  part,  whether  the  archbishop 
precedes  the  duke,  or  the  duke  the  bishop,  it  is, 

1  believe,  to  the  people  in  general,  somewhat  like 
Sternhold  and  Hopkins,  or  Hopkins  and  Stern- 
hold;  *  you  may  put  which  you  please  first ;  and  as 
I  confess  that  I  do  not  understand  the  merits 
of  this  case,  I  will  not  contend  it  with  Mr. 
Burke. 

But  with  respect  to  the  latter,  I  have  some- 
thing to  say.  Mr.  Burke  has  not  put  the  case 
right.  The  comparison  is  out  of  order  by  being 
put  between  the  bishop  and  the  earl  or  the  'squire. 
It  ought  to  be  put  between  the  bishop  and  the 
curate,  and  then  it  will  stand  thus: — The  people 
of  England  can  see  without  pain  or  grudging,  a 
bishop  of  Durham,  or  a  bishop  of  Winchester,  in 

*  Ck)mpilers  of  a  long  celebrated  psalm-book. — Ed. 

88 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

possession  of  ten  thousand  pounds  a  year,  and  a 
curate  on  thirty  or  forty  pounds  a  year,  or  less. 

No,  Sir,  they  certainly  do  not  see  those  things 
without  great  pain  or  grudging.  It  is  a  case  that 
appHes  itself  to  every  man's  sense  of  justice,  and 
is  one  among  many  that  calls  aloud  for  a  con- 
stitution. 

In  France,  the  cry  of  "the  church!  the 
church!"  was  repeated  as  often  as  in  ]\Ir.  Burke's 
book,  and  as  loudly  as  when  the  Dissenter's  Bill 
was  before  the  English  Parliament ;  but  the  gen- 
erality of  the  French  clergy  were  not  to  be  de- 
ceived by  this  cry  any  longer.  They  knew,  that 
whatever  the  pretense  might  be,  it  was  themselves 
who  were  one  of  the  principal  objects  of  it. 

It  was  the  cry  of  the  high  beneficed  clergy,  to 
prevent  any  regulation  of  income  taking  place  be- 
tween those  of  ten  thousand  pounds  a  year  and 
the  parish  priest.  They,  therefore,  joined  their 
case  to  those  of  every  other  oppressed  class  of 
men,  and  by  this  union  obtained  redress. 

The  French  Constitution  has  abolished  tithes, 
that  source  of  perpetual  discontent  between  the 
tithe-holder  and  the  parishioner.  When  land  is 
held  on  tithe,  it  is  in  the  condition  of  an  estate 
held  between  two  parties;  the  one  receiving  one- 
tenth,  and  the  other  nine-tenths  of  the  produce: 

89 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

and,  consequently,  on  principles  of  equity,  if  the 
estate  can  be  improved,  and  made  to  produce  by 
that  improvement  double  or  treble  what  it  did 
before,  or  in  any  other  ratio,  the  expense  of  such 
improvement  ought  to  be  born  in  like  propor- 
tion between  the  parties  who  are  to  share  the 
produce. 

But  this  is  not  the  case  in  tithes;  the  farmer 
bears  the  whole  expense,  and  the  tithe-holder 
takes  a  tenth  of  the  improvement,  in  addition  to 
the  original  tenth,  and  by  this  means  gets  the 
value  of  two-tenths  instead  of  one.  That  is  an- 
other case  that  calls  for  a  constitution. 

The  French  Constitution  hath  abolished  or  re- 
nounced toleration,,  and  intolerance  also,  and 
hath  established  universal  eight  of  con- 
science. 

Toleration  is  not  the  opposite  of  intoleration, 
but  is  the  counterfeit  of  it.  Both  are  despotisms. 
The  one  assumes  to  itself  the  right  of  withhold- 
ing liberty  of  conscience,  and  the  other  of  grant- 
ing it.  The  one  is  the  Pope,  armed  with  fire  and 
faggot,  and  the  other  is  the  Pope  selling  or  grant- 
ing indulgences.  The  former  is  church  and  state, 
and  the  latter  is  church  and  traffic. 

But  toleration  may  be  viewed  in  a  much 
stronger  light.  Man  worships  not  himself,  but 
90 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

his  Maker:  and  the  liberty  of  conscience  which 
he  claims,  is  not  for  the  service  of  himself,  but  of 
his  God.  In  this  case,  therefore,  we  must  neces- 
sarily have  the  associated  idea  of  two  beings ;  the 
mortal  who  renders  the  worship,  and  the  immor- 
tal being  who  is  worshipped. 

Toleration  therefore,  places  itself  not  between 
man  and  man,  nor  between  church  and  church, 
nor  between  one  denomination  of  religion  and 
another,  but  between  God  and  man ;  between  the 
being  who  worships,  and  the  being  who  is  wor- 
shipped ;  and  by  the  same  act  of  assumed  author- 
ity by  which  it  tolerates  man  to  pay  his  worship, 
it  presumptuously  and  blasphemously  sets  up 
itself  to  tolerate  the  Almighty  to  receive  it. 

Were  a  bill  brought  into  Parliament,  entitled, 
"An  act  to  tolerate  or  grant  liberty  to  the  Al- 
mighty to  receive  the  worship  of  a  Jew  or  a 
Turk,"  or  "to  prohibit  the  Almighty  from  re- 
ceiving it,"  all  men  would  startle,  and  call  it 
blasphemy.  There  would  be  an  uproar.  The 
presumption  of  toleration  in  religious  matters 
would  then,  present  itself  unmasked ;  but  the  pre- 
sumption is  not  the  less  because  the  name  of 
"Man"  only  appears  to  those  laws,  for  the  asso- 
ciated idea  of  the  worshipper  and  the  worshipped 
cannot  be  separated. 

91 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

Who,  then,  art  thou,  vain  dust  and  ashes!  by 
whatever  name  thou  art  called,  whether  a  king, 
a  bishop,  a  church  or  a  state,  a  parhament  or 
any  thing  else,  that  obtrudest  thine  insignificance 
between  the  soul  of  man  and  his  Maker?  Mind 
thine  own  concerns.  If  he  believes  not  as  thou 
believest,  it  is  a  proof  that  thou  believest  not  as 
he  believeth,  and  there  is  no  earthly  power  can 
determine  between  you. 

With  respect  to  what  are  called  denomina- 
tions of  religion,  if  every  one  is  left  to  judge  of 
his  own  reHgion,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  reli- 
gion that  is  wrong;  but  if  they  are  to  judge  of 
each  other's  religion,  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a 
religion  that  is  right ;  and  therefore  all  the  world 
is  right,  or  all  the  world  is  wrong. 

But  with  respect  to  rehgion  itself,  without 
regard  to  names,  and  as  directing  itself  from  the 
universal  family  of  mankind  to  the  divine  object 
of  all  adoration,  it  is  man  bringing  to  his  Maker 
the  fruits  of  his  heart;  and  though  these  fruits 
may  differ  from  each  other  like  the  fruits  of  the 
earth,  the  grateful  tribute  of  every  one  is  ac- 
cepted. 

A  bishop  of  Durham,  or  a  bishop  of  Win- 
chester, or  the  archbishop  who  heads  the  dukes, 
will  not  refuse  a  tithe-sheaf  of  wheal,  1:  cause  it 
92 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

is  not  a  cock  of  hay;  nor  a  cock  of  hay,  because 
it  is  not  a  sheaf  of  wheat ;  nor  a  pig,  because  it  is 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other :  but  these  same  per- 
sons, under  the  figure  of  an  estabhshed  church, 
will  not  permit  their  Maker  to  receive  the  various 
tithes  of  man's  devotion. 

One  of  the  continual  choruses  of  Mr.  Burke's 
book,  is  "church  and  state."  He  does  not  mean 
some  one  particular  church,  or  some  one  partic- 
ular state,  but  any  church  and  state;  and  he  uses 
the  term  as  a  general  figure  to  hold  forth  the 
political  doctrine  of  always  uniting  the  church 
with  the  state  in  every  country,  and  he  censures 
the  National  Assembly  for  not  having  done  this 
in  France.  Let  us  bestow  a  few  thoughts  on  this 
subject. 

All  religions  are  in  their  nature  mild  and  be- 
nign, and  united  with  principles  of  morality. 
They  could  not  have  made  proselytes  at  first,  by 
professing  anything  that  was  vicious,  cruel,  per- 
secuting or  immoral.  Like  every  thing  else,  they 
had  their  beginning;  and  they  proceeded  by  per- 
suasion, exhortation,  and  example.  How  then 
is  it  that  they  lose  their  native  mildness,  and  be- 
come morose  and  intolerant? 

It  proceeds  from  the  connection  which  Mr. 
Burke  recommends.  By  engendering  the  church 

93 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

with  the  state,  a  sort  of  mule-animal,  capable 
only  of  destroying,  and  not  of  breeding  up,  is 
produced,  called,  The  Church  established  by 
Law.  It  is  a  stranger,  even  from  its  birth  to  any 
parent  mother  on  which  it  is  begotten,  and  whom 
in  time  it  kicks  out  and  destroys. 

The  Inquisition  in  Spain  does  not  proceed 
from  the  religion  originally  professed,  but  from 
this  mule-animal,  engendered  between  the  church 
and  the  state.  The  burnings  in  Smithfield  pro- 
ceeded from  the  same  heterogeneous  production ; 
and  it  was  the  regeneration  of  this  strange  ani- 
mal in  England  afterwards,  that  renewed  rancor 
and  irreligion  among  the  inhabitants,  and  that 
drove  the  people  called  Quakers  and  Dissenters 
to  America. 

Persecution  is  not  an  original  feature  in  any 
religion;  but  it  is  always  the  strongly  marked 
feature  of  all  law-religions,  or  religions  estab- 
lished by  law.  Take  away  the  law-establishment, 
and  every  religion  reassumes  its  original  be- 
nignity. In  America,  a  Catholic  priest  is  a  good 
citizen,  a  good  character,  and  a  good  neighbor; 
an  Episcopal  minister  is  of  the  same  description : 
and  this  proceeds,  independently  of  the  men, 
from  there  being  no  law-estabHshment  in  Amer- 
ica. 

94 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

If  also  we  view  this  matter  in  a  temporal 
sense,  we  shall  see  the  ill  effects  it  has  had  on  the 
prosperity  of  nations.  The  union  of  church  and 
state  has  impoverished  Spain.  The  revoking 
the  edict  of  Nantes  drove  the  silk  manufacture 
from  France  into  England;  and  church  and 
state  are  now  driving  the  cotton  manufacture 
from  England  to  America  and  France. 

Let  then  Mr.  Burke  continue  to  preach  his 
anti-political  doctrine  of  Church  and  State.  It 
will  do  some  good.  The  National  Assembly  will 
not  follow  his  advice,  but  will  benefit  by  his  folly. 
It  was  by  observing  the  ill  effects  of  it  in  Eng- 
land, that  America  has  been  warned  against  it; 
and  it  is  by  experiencing  them  in  France,  that 
the  National  Assembly  have  abolished  it,  and, 
like  America,  have  established  universal  right 

OF   CONSCIENCE^   AND   UNIVERSAL  RIGHT   OF  CITI- 
ZENSHIP.* 

*  When  in  any  country  we  see  extraordinary  circumstances 
taking  place,  they  naturally  lead  any  man  who  has  a  talent  for  ob- 
servation and  investigation,  to  inquire  into  the  causes.  The  manu- 
factures of  Manchester,  Birmingham  and  Sheffield,  are  the  princi- 
pal manufactures  in  England.  From  whence  did  this  arise?  A 
little  observation  will  explain  the  case. 

The  principal,  and  the  generality  of  the  inhabitants  of  those 
places,  are  not  of  what  is  called  in  England,  the  Church  estab- 
lished by  law;  and  they,  or  their  fathers  (for  it  is  within  but  a 
few  years)  withdrew  from  the  persecution  of  the  chartered  towns, 
where  test-laws  more  particularly  operate,  and  established  a  sort 
of  asylum  for  themselves  in  those  places.    It  was  the  only  asyliun 

95 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

I  will  here  cease  the  comparison  with  respect 
to  the  principles  of  the  French  Constitution,  and 
conclude  this  part  of  the  subject  with  a  few  ob- 
servations on  the  organization  of  the  formal 
parts  of  the  French  and  English  governments. 

The  executive  power  in  each  country  is  in 
the  hands  of  a  person  styled  the  king;  but  the 
French  Constitution  distinguishes  between  the 
king  and  the  sovereign:     It  considers  the  sta- 

that  then  offered,  for  the  rest  of  Europe  was  worse. 

But  the  case  is  now  changing.  France  and  America  bid  all 
comers  welcome,  and  initiate  them  into  all  the  rights  of  citizen- 
ship. Policy  and  interest,  therefore,  will,  but  perhaps  too  late, 
dictate  in  England,  what  reason  and  justice  could  not.  Those 
manufactures  are  withdrawing,  and  are  arising  in  other  places. 
There  is  now  erecting  at  Passj,  three  miles  from  Paris,  a  large 
cotton  mill,  and  several  are  already  erected  in  America.  Soon 
after  the  rejecting  the  bill  for  repealing  the  test-law,  one  of  the 
richest  manufacturers  in  England  said  in  my  hearing,  "  England, 
Sir,  is  not  a  country  for  a  Dissenter  to  live  in — we  must  go  to 
France." 

These  are  truths,  and  it  is  doing  justice  to  both  parties  to  tell 
them.  It  is  chiefly  the  Dissenters  who  have  carried  English  manu- 
factures to  the  height  they  are  now  at,  and  the  same  men  have  it 
in  their  power  to  carry  them  away;  and  though  those  manufac- 
tures would  afterwards  continue  to  be  made  in  those  places,  the 
foreign  market  would  be  lost.  There  are  frequently  appearing 
in  the  London  Gazette,  extracts  from  certain  acts  to  prevent 
machines,  and,  as  far  as  it  can  extend  to,  persons,  from  going  out 
of  the  country. 

It  appears  from  these,  that  the  ill  effects  of  the  test-laws  and 
church-establishment  begin  to  be  much  suspected;  but  the  remedy 
of  force  can  never  supply  the  remedy  of  reason.  In  the  progress 
of  less  than  a  century,  all  the  unrepresented  part  of  England,  of 
all  denominations,  which  is  at  least  a  hundred  times  the  most 
numerous,  may  begin  to  feel  the  necessity  of  a  constitution,  and 
then  all  those  matters  will  come  regularly  before  them. 

96 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

tion  of  king  as  official,  and  places  sovereignty 
in  the  nation. 

The  representatives  of  the  nation,  who  com- 
pose the  National  Assembly,  and  who  are  the 
legislative  power,  originate  in  and  from  the  peo- 
ple by  election,  as  an  inherent  right  in  the  people. 

In  England  it  is  otherwise;  and  this  arises 
from  the  original  establishment  of  what  is  called 
its  monarchy;  for,  as  by  the  Conquest  all  the 
rights  of  the  people  or  the  nation  were  absorbed 
into  the  hands  of  the  Conqueror,  and  who  added 
the  title  of  King  to  that  of  Conqueror,  those  same 
matters  which  in  France  are  now  held  as  rights 
in  the  people,  or  in  the  nation,  are  held  in  Eng- 
land as  grants  from  what  is  called  the  Crown. 

The  Parliament  in  England,  in  both  its 
branches,  was  erected  by  patents  from  the  de- 
scendants of  the  Conqueror.  The  House  of 
Commons  did  not  originate  as  a  matter  of  right 
in  the  people  to  delegate  or  elect,  but  as  a  grant 
or  boon. 

By  the  French  Constitution,  the  nation  is 
always  named  before  the  king.  The  third 
article  of  the  Declaration  of  Rights  says,  "  The 
nation  is  essentially  the  source  (or  fountain)  of 
all  sovereignty/^  Mr.  Burke  argues,  that,  in 
England,  a  king  is  the  fountain — that  he  is  the 

97 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

fountain  of  all  honor.  But  as  this  idea  is  evi- 
dently descended  from  the  Conquest,  I  shall 
make  no  other  remark  upon  it,  than  that  it  is  the 
nature  of  conquest  to  turn  every  thing  upside 
down;  and  as  Mr.  Burke  will  not  be  refused  the 
privilege  of  speaking  twice,  and  as  there  are  but 
two  parts  in  the  figure,  the  fountain  and  the 
spout  J  he  will  be  right  the  second  time. 

The  French  Constitution  puts  the  legislative 
before  the  executive;  the  Law  before  the  King; 
La  Loij  Le  Roi.  This  also  is  in  the  natural  order 
of  things;  because  laws  must  have  existence,  be- 
fore they  can  have  execution. 

A  king  in  France  does  not  in  addressing 
himself  to  the  National  Assembly,  say,  "  My  as- 
sembly," similar  to  the  phrase  used  in  England 
of  my  "  Parliament ";  neither  can  he  use  it  con- 
sistently with  the  Constitution,  nor  could  it  be 
admitted.  There  may  be  propriety  in  the  use  of 
it  in  England,  because  as  is  before  mentioned, 
both  Houses  of  Parliament  originated  from 
what  is  called  the  Crown  by  patent  or  boon — and 
not  from  the  inherent  rights  of  the  people,  as  the 
National  Assembly  does  in  France,  and  whose 
name  designates  its  origin. 

The  President  of  the  National  Assembly 
does  not  ask  the  King  to  grant  to  the  Assembly 
98 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

liberty  of  speech,  as  is  the  case  with  the  English 
House  of  Commons.  The  constitutional  dignity 
of  the  National  Assembly  cannot  debase  itself. 
Speech  is,  in  the  first  place,  one  of  the  natural 
rights  of  man  always  retained;  and  with  respect 
to  the  National  Assembly,  the  use  of  it  is  their 
duty,  and  the  nation  is  their  authority. 

They  were  elected  by  the  greatest  body  of 
men  exercising  the  right  of  election  the  Euro- 
pean world  ever  saw.  They  sprung  not  from  the 
filth  of  rotten  boroughs,  nor  are  they  the  vassal 
representatives  of  aristocratical  ones.  Feeling 
the  proper  dignity  of  their  character,  they  sup- 
port it.  Their  parliamentary  language,  whether 
for  or  against  a  question,  is  free,  bold,  and  manly, 
and  extends  to  all  the  parts  and  circumstances 
of  the  case. 

If  any  matter  or  subject  respecting  the 
executive  department,  or  the  person  who  pre- 
sides in  it  (the  king)  comes  before  them,  it  is  de- 
bated on  with  the  spirit  of  men,  and  the  language 
of  gentlemen ;  and  their  answer,  or  their  address, 
is  returned  in  the  same  style.  They  stand  not 
aloof  with  the  gaping  vacuity  of  vulgar  ignor- 
ance, nor  bend  with  the  cringe  of  sycophantic 
insignificance.  The  graceful  pride  of  truth 
knows   no   extremes,    and    preserves,    in    every 

99 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

latitude  of  life,  the  right-angled  character  of 
man. 

Let  us  now  look  to  the  other  side  of  the  ques- 
tion. In  the  addresses  of  the  English  Parlia- 
ments to  their  kings,  we  see  neither  the  intrepid 
spirit  of  the  old  Parliaments  of  France,  nor  the 
serene  dignity  of  the  present  National  Assem- 
bly: neither  do  we  see  in  them  any  thing  of  the 
style  of  English  manners,  which  border  some- 
what on  bluntness. 

Since  then  they  are  neither  of  foreign  extrac- 
tion, nor  naturally  of  English  production,  their 
origin  must  be  sought  for  elsewhere,  and  that 
origin  is  the  Norman  Conquest.  They  are  evi- 
dently of  the  vassalage  class  of  manners,  and 
emphatically  mark  the  prostrate  distance  that 
exists  in  no  other  condition  of  men  than  between 
the  conqueror  and  the  conquered. 

That  this  vassalage  idea  and  style  of  speak- 
ing was  not  got  rid  of  even  at  the  Revolution  of 
1688,  is  evident  from  the  declaration  of  Parlia- 
ment to  William  and  Mary,  in  these  words: 
"  We  do  most  humbly  and  faithfully  submit  our- 
selves, our  heirs  and  posterities  for  ever."  Sub- 
mission is  wholly  a  vassalage  term,  repugnant  to 
the  dignity  of  freedom,  and  an  echo  of  tlie  lan- 
guage used  at  the  Conquest. 
100 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

As  the  estimation  of  all  things  is  by  compari- 
son, the  Revolution  of  1688,  however  from  cir- 
cumstances it  may  have  been  exalted  beyond  its 
value,  will  find  its  level.  It  is  akeady  on  the 
wane,  eclipsed  by  the  enlarging  orb  of  reason, 
and  the  luminous  revolutions  of  America  and 
France.  In  less  than  another  century,  it  will  go, 
as  well  as  Mr.  Burke's  labors,  "  to  the  family 
vault  of  all  the  Capulets."  ^lankind  will  then 
scarcely  believe  that  a  country  calling  itself  free, 
would  send  to  Holland  for  a  man,  and  clothe  him 
with  power,  on  purpose  to  put  themselves  in  fear 
of  him,  and  give  him  almost  a  million  sterling  a 
year  for  leave  to  submit  themselves  and  their 
posterity,  like  bond-men  and  bond-women,  for 
ever. 

But  there  is  a  truth  that  ought  to  be  made 
known :  I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  seeing  it ; 
which  is,  that,  notwithstanding  appearances, 
there  is  not  any  description  of  men  that  despise 
monarchy  so  much  as  courtiers.  But  they  well 
know,  that  if  it  were  seen  by  others,  as  it  is  by 
them,  the  juggle  could  not  be  kept  up. 

They  are  in  the  condition  of  men  who  get 
their  living  by  a  show,  and  to  whom  the  folly  of 
that  show  is  so  familiar  that  they  ridicule  it;  but 
were  the  audience  to  be  made  as  wise  in  this  rc- 

101 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

spect  as  themselves,  there  would  be  an  end  to  the 
show  and  the  profits  with  it. 

The  difference  between  a  republican  and  a 
courtier  with  respect  to  monarchy,  is,  that  the 
one  opposes  monarchy,  believing  it  to  be  some- 
thing, and  the  other  laughs  at  it,  knowing  it  to 
be  nothing. 

As  I  used  sometimes  to  correspond  with  Mr. 
'Burke,  believing  him  then  to  be  a  man  of  sounder 
principles  than  his  book  shows  him  to  be,  I  wrote 
to  him  last  winter  from  Paris,  and  gave  him  an 
account  how  prosperously  matters  were  going 
on.  Among  other  subjects  in  that  letter,  I  re- 
ferred to  the  happy  situation  the  National  As- 
sembly were  placed  in;  that  they  had  taken  a 
ground  on  which  their  moral  duty  and  their 
political  interest  were  united. 

They  have  not  to  hold  out  a  language  which 
they  do  not  themselves  believe,  for  the  fraudulent 
purpose  of  making  others  believe  it.  Their  sta- 
tion requires  no  artifice  to  support  it,  and  can 
only  be  maintained  by  enlightening  mankind.  It 
is  not  their  interest  to  cherish  ignorance  but  to 
dispel  it.  They  are  not  in  the  case  of  a  minis- 
terial or  an  opposition  party  in  England,  who, 
though  they  are  opposed,  are  still  united  to  keep 
up  the  common  mystery. 
102 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

The  National  Assembly  must  throw  open  a 
magazine  of  light.  It  must  show  man  the  proper 
character  of  man;  and  the  nearer  it  can  bring 
him  to  that  standard,  the  stronger  the  National 
Assembly  becomes. 

In  contemplating  the  French  Constitution, 
we  see  in  it  a  rational  order  of  things.  The  prin- 
ciples harmonize  with  the  forms,  and  both  with 
their  origin.  It  may  perhaps  be  said  as  an  ex- 
cuse for  bad  forms,  that  they  are  nothing  more 
than  forms;  but  this  is  a  mistake.  Forms  grow 
out  of  principles,  and  operate  to  continue  the 
principles  they  grow  from.  It  is  impossible  to 
practise  a  bad  form  on  any  thing  but  a  bad  prin- 
ciple. It  cannot  be  ingrafted  on  a  good  one ;  and 
wherever  the  forms  in  any  government  are  bad, 
it  is  a  certain  indication  that  the  principles  are 
bad  also. 

I  wiU  here  finally  close  the  subject.  I  began 
it  by  remarking  that  Mr.  Burke  had  voluntarily 
dechned  going  into  a  comparison  of  the  English 
and  French  constitutions.  He  apologizes  (p. 
241)  for  not  doing  it,  by  saying  that  he  had  not 
time.  Mr.  Burke's  book  was  upwards  of  eight 
months  in  hand,  and  it  extended  to  a  volume  of 
three  hundred  and  sixty-six  pages. 

As  his  omission  does  injury  to  his  cause,  his 

108 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

apology  makes  it  worse ;  and  men  on  the  English 
side  of  the  water  will  begin  to  consider,  whether 
there  is  not  some  radical  defect  in  what  is  called 
the  English  Constitution,  that  made  it  necessary 
for  Mr.  Burke  to  suppress  the  comparison,  to 
avoid  bringing  it  into  view. 

As  Mr.  Burke  has  not  written  on  constitu- 
tions, so  neither  has  he  written  on  the  French 
Revolution.  He  gives  no  account  of  its  com- 
mencement or  its  progress.  He  only  expresses 
his  wonder.  "  It  looks,"  says  he,  "  to  me  as  if  I 
were  in  a  great  crisis,  not  of  the  affairs  of  France 
alone,  but  of  all  Europe,  perhaps  of  more  than 
Europe.  All  circumstances  taken  together,  the 
French  Revolution  is  the  most  astonishing  that 
has  hitherto  happened  in  the  world." 

As  wise  men  are  astonished  at  foolish  things, 
and  other  people  at  wise  ones,  I  know  not  on 
which  ground  to  account  for  INIr.  Burke's  aston- 
ishment ;  but  certain  it  is  that  he  does  not  under- 
stand the  French  Revolution.  It  has  apparently 
burst  forth  like  a  creation  from  a  chaos,  but  it  is 
no  more  than  the  consequence  of  a  mental  revo- 
lution previously  existing  in  France. 

The  mind  of  the  nation  had  changed  before- 
hand, and  the  new  order  of  things  had  naturally 
followed  the  new  order  of  thoughts.    I  will  here, 

104 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

as  concisely  as  I  can,  trace  out  the  growth  of  the 
French  Revolution,  and  mark  the  circumstances 
that  have  contributed  to  produce  it. 

The  despotism  of  Louis  XIV.  united  with 
the  gaiety  of  his  court,  and  the  gaudy  ostenta- 
tion of  his  character,  had  so  humbled,  and  at  the 
same  time  so  fascinated  the  mind  of  France,  that 
the  people  appear  to  have  lost  all  sense  of  their 
own  dignity,  in  contemplating  that  of  their 
Grand  Monarch:  and  the  whole  reign  of  Louis 
XV.,  remarkable  only  for  weakness  and  effem- 
inacy, made  no  other  alteration  than  that  of 
spreading  a  sort  of  lethargy  over  the  nation, 
from  which  it  showed  no  disposition  to  rise. 

The  only  signs  which  appeared  of  the  spirit 
of  liberty  during  those  periods,  are  to  be  found 
in  the  writings  of  the  French  philosophers. 
Montesquieu,  President  of  the  Parliament  of 
Bordeaux,  w^ent  as  far  as  a  writer  under  a  des- 
potic government  could  well  proceed:  and  being 
obliged  to  divide  himself  between  principle  and 
prudence,  his  mind  often  appears  under  a  veil, 
and  we  ought  to  give  him  credit  for  more  than 
he  has  expressed. 

Voltaire,  who  was  both  the  flatterer  and  satir- 
ist of  despotism,  took  another  line.  His  forte 
lay  in  exposing  and  ridiculing  the  superstitions 

105 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

which  priestcraft,  united  with  statecraft,  had 
interwoven  with  governments. 

It  was  not  from  the  purity  of  liis  principles, 
or  his  love  of  mankind,  (for  satire  and  philan- 
thropy are  not  naturally  concordant),  but  from 
his  strong  capacity  of  seeing  folly  in  its  true 
shape,  and  his  irresistible  propensity  to  expose  it, 
that  he  made  those  attacks.  They  were  however 
as  formidable  as  if  the  motives  had  been  virtu- 
ous; and  he  merits  the  thanks  rather  than  the 
esteem  of  mankind. 

On  the  contrary,  we  find  in  the  writings  of 
Rousseau  and  the  Abbe  Raynal,  a  loveliness  of 
sentiment  in  favor  of  liberty,  that  excites  respect, 
and  elevates  the  human  faculties;  but  having 
raised  this  animation,  they  do  not  direct  its  oper- 
ations, but  leave  the  mind  in  love  with  an  object, 
without  describing  the  means  of  possessing  it. 

The  writings  of  Quesnay,  Turgot,  and  the 
friends  of  these  authors,  are  of  a  serious  kind; 
but  they  labored  under  the  same  disadvantage 
with  Montesquieu;  their  writings  abound  with 
moral  maxims  of  government,  but  are  rather 
directed  to  economize  and  reform  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  government,  than  the  government 
itself. 

But  all  those  writings  and  many  others  had 
106 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

their  weight;  and  by  the  diiferent  manner  in 
which  they  treated  the  subject  of  government, — 
Montesquieu  by  his  judgment  and  knowledge  of 
laws,  Voltaire  by  his  wit,  Rousseau  and  Raynal 
by  their  animation,  and  Quesnay  and  Turgot  by 
their  moral  maxims  and  systems  of  economy, 
readers  of  every  class  met  with  something  to 
their  taste,  and  a  spirit  of  political  inquiry  began 
to  diffuse  itself  through  the  nation  at  the  time 
the  dispute  between  England  and  the  then  col- 
onies of  America  broke  out. 

In  the  war  which  France  afterwards  engaged 
in,  it  is  very  well  known  that  the  nation  appeared 
to  be  beforehand  with  the  French  Ministry. 
Each  of  them  had  its  view :  but  those  views  were 
directed  to  different  objects;  the  one  sought  lib- 
erty, and  the  other  retaliation  on  England.  The 
French  officers  and  soldiers  who  after  this  went 
to  America,  were  eventually  placed  in  the  school 
of  Freedom,  and  learned  the  practise  as  well  as 
the  principles  of  it  by  heart. 

As  it  was  impossible  to  separate  the  military 
events  which  took  place  in  America  from  the 
principles  of  the  American  Revolution,  the  publi- 
cation of  those  events  in  France  necessarily  con- 
nected themselves  with  the  principles  which  pro- 
duced them.    Many  of  the  facts  were  in  them- 

107 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

selves  principles;  such  as  the  declaration  of 
American  independence,  and  the  treaty  of  alli- 
ance between  France  and  America,  which  recog- 
nized the  natural  right  of  man,  and  justified 
resistance  to  oppression. 

The  then  Minister  of  France,  Count  Ver- 
gennes,  was  not  the  friend  of  America;  and  it  is 
both  justice  and  gratitude  to  say,  that  it  was  the 
Queen  of  France  who  gave  the  cause  of  America 
a  fashion  at  the  French  Court.  Count  Vergennes 
was  the  personal  and  social  friend  of  Dr.  Frank- 
lin; and  the  Doctor  had  obtained,  by  his  sensible 
gracefulness,  a  sort  of  influence  over  him;  but 
with  respect  to  principles,  Count  Vergennes  was 
a  despot. 

The  situation  of  Dr.  Franklin  as  Minister 
from  America  to  France,  should  be  taken  into 
the  chain  of  circumstances.  The  diplomatic 
character  is  of  itself  the  narrowest  sphere  of 
society  that  man  can  act  in.  It  forbids  inter- 
course by  a  reciprocity  of  suspicion ;  and  a  diplo- 
matist is  a  sort  of  unconnected  atom,  continually 
repeHing  and  repelled.  But  this  was  not  the  case 
with  Dr.  Franklin.  He  was  not  the  diplomatist 
of  a  court,  but  of  a  man.  His  character  as  a 
philosopher  had  been  long  established,  and  his 
circle  of  society  in  France  was  universal. 
108 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

Count  Vergennes  resisted  for  a  considerable 
time  the  publication  in  France  of  the  American 
Constitutions,  translated  into  the  French  lan- 
guage; but  even  in  this  he  was  obliged  to  give 
way  to  public  opinion,  and  a  sort  of  propriety 
in  admitting  to  appear  what  he  had  undertaken 
to  defend.  The  American  Constitutions  were  to 
liberty,  what  a  grammar  is  to  language :  they  de- 
fine its  parts  of  speech,  and  practically  construct 
them  into  syntax. 

The  peculiar  situation  of  the  then  Marquis 
de  la  Fayette  is  another  link  in  the  great  chain. 
He  served  in  America  as  an  American  officer 
under  a  commission  of  Congress,  and  by  the  uni- 
versality of  his  acquaintance,  was  in  close  friend- 
ship with  the  civil  government  of  America,  as 
weU  as  with  the  military  line.  He  spoke  the  lan- 
guage of  the  country,  entered  into  the  discussions 
on  the  principles  of  government,  and  was  always 
a  welcome  friend  at  any  election. 

When  the  war  closed,  a  vast  reinforcement 
to  the  cause  of  liberty  spread  itself  over  France, 
by  the  return  of  the  French  officers  and  soldiers. 
A  knowledge  of  the  practise  was  then  joined  to 
the  theory;  and  all  that  was  wanting  to  give  it  a 
real  existence  was  opportunity.  Man  cannot, 
properly  speaking,  make  circumstances  for  his 

109 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

purpose,  but  he  always  has  it  in  his  power  to  im- 
prove them  when  they  occur;  and  this  was  the 
case  in  France. 

M.  Necker  was  displaced  in  May,  1781 ;  and 
by  the  ill  management  of  the  finances  after- 
ward, and  particularly  during  the  extravagant 
administration  of  M.  Calonne,  the  revenue  of 
France,  which  was  nearly  twenty-four  millions 
sterling  per  year,  was  become  unequal  to  the  ex- 
penditure, not  because  the  revenue  had  decreased, 
but  because  the  expenses  had  increased;  and  this 
was  the  circumstance  which  the  nation  laid  hold 
of  to  bring  forward  a  revolution. 

The  English  Minister,  Mr.  Pitt,  has  fre- 
quently alluded  to  the  state  of  the  French 
finances  in  his  budgets  without  understanding 
the  subject.  Had  the  French  parliaments  been 
as  ready  to  register  edicts  for  new  taxes,  as  an 
English  parliament  is  to  grant  them,  there  had 
been  no  derangement  in  the  finances,  nor  yet  any 
revolution ;  but  this  will  better  explain  itself  as  I 
proceed. 

It  will  be  necessary  here  to  show  how  taxes 
were  formerly  raised  in  France.  The  king,  or 
rather  the  court  or  ministry  acting  under  the 
use  of  that  name,  framed  the  edicts  for  taxes  at 
their  own  discretion,  and  sent  them  to  the  parlia- 
110 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

merits  to  be  registered ;  for  until  they  were  regis- 
tered by  the  parHaments,  they  were  not  opera- 
tive. 

Disputes  had  long  existed  between  the  court 
and  the  parliaments  with  respect  to  the  extent  of 
the  parliament's  authority  on  this  head.  The 
court  insisted  that  the  authority  of  parliaments 
went  no  farther  than  to  remonstrate  or  show 
reasons  against  the  tax,  reserving  to  itself  the 
right  of  determining  whether  the  reasons  were 
well  or  ill-founded;  and  in  consequence  thereof, 
either  to  withdraw  the  edict  as  a  matter  of  choice, 
or  to  order  it  to  be  enregistered  as  a  matter  of 
authority. 

The  parliaments  on  their  part  insisted,  that 
they  had  not  only  a  right  to  remonstrate,  but  to 
reject;  and  on  this  ground  they  were  always 
supported  by  the  nation. 

But,  to  return  to  the  order  of  my  narrative, 
M.  Calonne  wanted  money;  and  as  he  knew  the 
sturdy  disposition  of  the  parliaments  ^\dth  re- 
spect to  new  taxes,  he  ingeniously  sought  either 
to  approach  them  by  a  more  gentle  means  than 
that  of  direct  authority,  or  to  get  over  their  heads 
by  a  maneuver :  and,  for  this  purpose,  he  revived 
the  project  of  assembling  a  body  of  men  from 
the  several  provinces,  under  the  style  of  an  "As- 
Ill 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

sembly  of  the  Notables,"  or  Men  of  Note,  who 
met  in  1787,  and  who  were  either  to  recommend 
taxes  to  the  parliaments,  or  to  act  as  a  parlia- 
ment themselves.  An  Assembly  under  this  name 
had  been  called  in  1617. 

As  we  are  to  view  this  as  the  first  practical 
step  towards  the  Revolution,  it  will  be  proper  to 
enter  into  some  particulars  respecting  it.  The 
Assembly  of  the  Notables  has  in  some  places 
been  mistaken  for  the  States-General,  but  was 
wholly  a  different  body;  the  States-General  be- 
ing always  by  election. 

The  persons  who  composed  the  Assembly  of 
the  Notables  were  all  nominated  by  the  King, 
and  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  forty  mem- 
bers. But  as  M.  Calonne  could  not  depend  upon 
a  majority  of  this  Assembly  in  his  favor,  he  very 
ingeniously  arranged  them  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  make  forty-four  a  majority  of  one  hundred 
and  forty:  to  effect  this,  he  disposed  of  them 
into  seven  separate  committees,  of  twenty  mem- 
bers each. 

Every  general  question  was  to  be  decided,  not 
by  a  majority  of  persons  but  by  a  majority  of 
committees;  and  as  eleven  votes  would  make  a 
majority  in  a  committee,  and  four  committees  a 
majority  of  seven,  M.  Calonne  had  good  reason 
112 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

to  conclude,  that  as  forty-four  would  determine 
any  general  question,  he  could  not  be  out-voted. 
But  all  his  plans  deceived  him,  and  in  the  event 
became  his  overthrow. 

The  then  ]Marquis  de  la  Fayette  was  placed 
in  the  second  committee,  of  which  Count  D'Ar- 
tois  was  President:  and  as  money-matters  was 
the  object,  it  naturally  brought  into  view  every 
circumstance  connected  with  it.  M.  de  la  Fay- 
ette made  a  verbal  charge  against  Calonne,  for 
selling  crown-lands  to  the  amount  of  two  mil- 
lions of  Hvres,  in  a  manner  that  appeared  to  be 
unknown  to  the  King. 

The  Count  D'Artois  (as  if  to  intimidate,  for 
the  Bastille  was  then  in  being)  asked  the  Mar- 
quis if  he  would  render  the  charge  in  writing? 
He  replied  that  he  would.  The  Count  D'Artois 
did  not  demand  it,  but  brought  a  message  from 
the  King  to  that  purport. 

M.  de  la  Fayette  then  delivered  in  his  charge 
in  writing,  to  be  given  to  the  King,  undertaking 
to  support  it.  No  farther  proceedings  were  had 
upon  this  affair;  but  M.  Calonne  was  soon  after 
dismissed  by  the  King,  and  set  off  to  England. 

As  M.  de  la  Fayette,  from  the  experience  of 
what  he  had  seen  in  America,  was  better  ac- 
quainted with  the  science  of  civil  government 

118 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

than  the  generahty  of  the  members  who  com- 
posed the  Assembly  of  the  Notables  could  then 
be,  the  brunt  of  the  business  fell  considerably  to 
his  share. 

The  plan  of  those  who  had  a  constitution 
in  view,  was  to  contend  with  the  Court  on 
the  ground  of  taxes,  and  some  of  them  openly 
professed  their  object.  Disputes  frequently 
arose  between  Count  D'Ai-tois  and  M.  de  la 
Fayette,  upon  various  subjects. 

With  respect  to  the  arrears  already  incurred, 
the  latter  proposed  to  remedy  them,  by  accom- 
modating the  exj)enses  to  the  revenue,  instead  of 
the  revenue  to  the  expenses;  and  as  objects  of 
reform,  he  proposed  to  abolish  the  Bastille,  and 
all  the  state-prisons  throughout  the  nation,  (the 
keeping  of  wliich  was  attended  with  great  ex- 
pense) ,  and  to  suppress  Lettres  de  Cachet.  But 
those  matters  were  not  then  much  attended  to; 
and  with  respect  to  Lettres  de  Cachet^  a  majority 
of  the  nobles  appeared  to  he  in  favor  of  them. 

On  the  subject  of  supplying  the  treasury 
by  new  taxes  the  Assembly  declined  taking  the 
matter  on  themselves,  concurring  in  the  opinion 
that  they  had  not  authority.  In  a  debate  on  this 
subject,  ]M.  de  la  Fayette  said  that  raising  money 
by  taxes  could  onlj^  be  done  by  a  National  As- 
114. 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

sembly,  freely  elected  by  the  people,  and  acting 
as  their  representatives.  "  Do  you  mean,"  said 
Count  D'Artois,  "  the  States-General?  "  M.  de 
la  Fayette  replied,  that  he  did.  "  Will  you," 
said  the  Count  D'Artois,  "  sign  what  you  say,  to 
be  given  to  the  King? "  The  other  replied,  that 
he  not  only  would  do  this,  but  that  he  would  go 
farther,  and  say  that  the  effectual  mode  would 
be,  for  the  King  to  agree  to  the  establishment  of 
a  constitution. 

As  one  of  the  plans  had  thus  failed,  that  of 
getting  the  Assembly  to  act  as  a  parliament,  the 
other  came  into  view,  that  of  recommending. 
On  this  subject,  the  Assembly  agreed  to  recom- 
mend two  new  taxes  to  be  enregistered  by  the 
parliament,  the  one  a  stamp  tax  and  the  other  a 
territorial  tax,  or  sort  of  land  tax.  The  two  have 
been  estimated  at  about  five  millions  sterling  per 
annum.  We  have  now  to  turn  our  attention  to 
the  parliaments,  on  whom  the  business  was  again 
devolving. 

The  Archbishop  of  Toulouse  (since  Arch- 
bishop of  Sens,  and  now  a  Cardinal)  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  administration  of  the  finances, 
soon  after  the  dismission  of  Calonne.  He  was 
also  made  Prime  INIinister,  an  office  that  did  not 
alwaj^s  exist  in  France.     When  this  office  did 

115 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

not  exist,  the  chief  of  each  of  the  principal  de- 
partments transacted  business  immediately  with 
the  king;  but  when  a  prime  minister  was  ap- 
pointed, they  did  business  only  with  him.  The 
Archbishop  arrived  to  more  state-authority  than 
any  minister  since  the  Duke  de  Choiseul,  and  the 
nation  was  strongly  disposed  in  his  favor ;  but  by 
a  line  of  conduct  scarcely  to  be  accounted  for,  he 
perverted  every  opportunity,  turned  out  a  des- 
pot, and  sunk  into  disgrace,  and  a  Cardinal. 

The  Assembly  of  Notables  having  broken 
up,  the  new  minister  sent  the  edicts  for  the  two 
new  taxes  recommended  by  the  Assembly  to  the 
Parliaments,  to  be  enregistered.  They  of  course 
came  first  before  the  Parliament  of  Paris,  who 
returned  for  answer;  That  with  such  a  revenue 
as  the  nation  then  supported,  the  name  of  taxes 
ought  not  to  he  mentioned,  hut  for  the  purpose 
of  reducing  them;  and  threw  both  the  edicts  out.* 

On  this  refusal,  the  Parliament  was  ordered 
to  Versailles,  where  in  the  usual  form,  the  King 
held,  what  under  the  old  government  was  called 
a  Bed  of  Justice :  and  the  two  edicts  were  enreg- 
istered in  presence  of  the  Parhament,  by  an  order 
of  State,  in  the  manner  mentioned  in  page  110. 

On  this  the  Parliament  immediately  returned 

•When  the  English  Minister,  Mr.  Pitt,  mentions  the  French 
finances  again  in  the  English  P«rliament,  it  would  be  well  that  he 
noticed  this  as  an  example. 

116 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

to  Paris,  renewed  their  session  in  form,  and  or- 
dered the  enregistering  to  be  struck  out,  declar- 
ing that  everything  done  at  Versailles  was  illegal. 
All  the  members  of  Parliament  were  then  served 
with  Lettres  de  Cachet ^  and  exiled  to  Trois;  but 
as  they  continued  as  inflexible  in  exile  as  before, 
and  as  vengeance  did  not  supply  the  place  of 
taxes,  they  were  after  a  short  time  recalled  to 
Paris. 

The  edicts  were  again  tendered  to  them,  and 
the  Count  D'Artois  undertook  to  act  as  represen- 
tative of  the  King.  For  this  purpose,  he  came 
from  Versailles  to  Paris,  in  a  train  of  procession ; 
and  the  Parliament  was  assembled  to  receive  him. 

But  show  and  parade  had  lost  their  influence 
in  France;  and  whatever  ideas  of  importance  he 
might  set  oif  with,  he  had  to  return  with  those  of 
mortification  and  disappointment.  On  alighting 
from  his  carriage  to  ascend  the  steps  of  the  Par- 
liament House,  the  crowd  (which  was  numer- 
ously collected)  threw  out  trite  expressions, 
saying:  "  This  is  Monsieur  D'Artois,  who  wants 
more  of  our  money  to  spend." 

The  marked  disapprobation  which  he  saw, 
impressed  him  with  apprehensions ;  and  the  word 
Aua^  arms!  {To  arms!)  was  given  out  by  the 
oflScer  of  the  guard  who  attended  him.    It  was 

117 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

so  loudly  vociferated,  that  it  echoed  through  the 
avenues  of  the  House,  and  produced  a  temporary 
confusion:  I  was  then  standing  in  one  of  the 
apartments  through  which  he  had  to  pass,  and 
could  not  avoid  reflecting  how  wretched  was  the 
condition  of  a  disrespected  man. 

He  endeavored  to  impress  the  Parliament 
by  great  words,  and  opened  his  authority  by  say- 
ing, "  The  King,  our  Lord  and  ^Master."  The 
Parliament  received  him  very  coolly,  and  with 
theu'  usual  determination  not  to  register  the 
taxes;  and  in  this  manner  the  interview  ended. 

After  this  a  new  subject  took  place.  In  the 
various  debates  and  contests  that  arose  between 
the  Court  and  the  Parhaments  on  the  subject  of 
taxes,  the  Parliament  of  Paris  at  last  declared, 
that  although  it  had  been  customary  for  Parlia- 
ments to  enregister  edicts  for  taxes  as  a  matter 
of  convenience,  the  right  belonged  only  to  the 
States-General;  and  that,  therefore,  the  Parlia- 
ments could  no  longer  with  propriety  continue 
to  debate  on  what  it  had  not  authority  to  act. 

The  King,  after  this,  came  to  Paris,  and  held 
a  meeting  with  the  Parliament,  in  which  he  con- 
tinued from  ten  in  the  morning  till  about  six  in 
the  evening;  and,  in  a  manner  that  appeared  to 
proceed  from  him,  as  if  unconsulted  upon  with 
118 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

the  Cabinet  or  the  Ministry,  gave  his  word  to  the 
ParHament,  that  the  States- General  should  be 
convened. 

But  after  this,  another  scene  arose,  on  a 
ground  different  from  all  the  former.  The  ]Min- 
ister  and  the  Cabinet  were  averse  to  calling  the 
States-General:  they  well  knew,  that  if  the 
States- General  were  assembled,  that  themselves 
must  fall;  and  as  the  King  had  not  mentioned 
any  time,  they  hit  on  a  project  calculated  to 
elude,  without  appearing  to  oppose. 

For  this  purpose,  the  Court  set  about  making 
a  sort  of  constitution  itself;  it  was  principally  the 
work  of  M.  Lamoignon,  Keeper  of  the  Seals, 
who  afterwards  shot  himself.  This  new  arrange- 
ment consisted  in  establishing  a  body  under  the 
name  of  a  Cour  pleniere,  or  full  Court,  in  which 
were  invested  all  the  power  that  the  government 
might  have  occasion  to  make  use  of. 

The  persons  composing  this  Court  were  to  be 
nominated  by  the  King;  the  contended  right  of 
taxation  was  given  up  on  the  part  of  the  King, 
and  a  new  criminal  code  of  laws,  and  law  pro- 
ceedings, was  substituted  in  the  room  of  the 
former.  The  thing,  in  many  points,  contained 
better  principles  than  those  upon  which  the  gov- 
ernment had  hitherto  been   administered:   but, 

119 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

with  respect  to  the  Cour  pleniere,  it  was  no  other 
than  a  medium  through  which  despotism  was  to 
pass,  without  appearing  to  act  directly  from 
itself. 

The  Cabinet  had  high  expectations  from 
their  new  contrivance.  The  persons  who  were 
to  compose  the  Cour  pleniere  were  already  nom- 
inated, and  as  it  was  necessary  to  carry  a  fair 
appearance,  many  of  the  best  characters  in  the 
nation  were  appointed  among  the  number.  It 
was  to  commence  on  the  eighth  of  May,  1788: 
but  an  opposition  arose  to  it,  on  two  grounds — 
the  one  as  to  principle,  the  other  as  to  form. 

On  the  ground  of  principle  it  was  contended, 
that  government  had  not  a  right  to  alter  itself; 
and  that  if  the  practise  was  once  admitted,  it 
would  grow  into  a  principle,  and  be  made  a  pre- 
cedent for  any  alterations  the  government  might 
wish  to  establish;  that  the  right  of  altering  the 
government  was  a  national  right,  and  not  a  right 
of  government.  And  on  the  ground  of  form,  it 
was  contended  that  the  Cour  pleniere  was  noth- 
ing more  than  a  larger  cabinet. 

The  then  Dukes  de  la  Rouchefoucault,  Lux- 
embourg, de  Noailles,  and  many  others,  refused 
to  accept  the  nomination,  and  strenuously  op- 
posed the  whole  plan.  When  the  edict  for  estab- 
120 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

lishing  this  new  court  was  sent  to  the  Parlia- 
ments to  be  enregistered  and  put  into  execution, 
they  resisted  also.  The  Parliament  of  Paris  not 
only  refused  but  denied  the  authority;  and  the 
contest  renewed  itself  between  the  Parliament 
and  the  Cabinet  more  strongly  than  ever. 

While  the  Parliament  was  sitting  in  debate 
on  this  subject,  the  Ministry  ordered  a  regiment 
of  soldiers  to  surround  the  house  and  form  a 
blockade.  The  members  sent  out  for  beds  and 
provision,  and  lived  as  in  a  besieged  citadel;  and 
as  this  had  no  effect,  the  commanding  officer  was 
ordered  to  enter  the  Parliament  House  and  seize 
them,  which  he  did,  and  some  of  the  principal 
members    were    shut   up    in    different    prisons. 

About  the  same  time  a  deputation  of  persons 
arrived  from  the  province  of  Brittany,  to  remon- 
strate against  the  establishment  of  the  Cour 
plenierej  and  those  the  Archbishop  sent  to  the 
Bastille.  But  the  spirit  of  the  nation  was  not  to 
be  overcome;  and  it  was  so  fully  sensible  of  the 
strong  ground  it  had  taken,  that  of  withholding 
taxes,  that  it  contented  itself  with  keeping  up  a 
sort  of  quiet  resistance,  which  effectually  over- 
threw all  the  plans  at  that  time  formed  against  it. 
The  project  of  the  Cour  pleniere  was  at  last 
obliged  to  be  given  up,  and  the  Prime  Minister 

121 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

not  long  afterwards  followed  its  fate;  and  M. 
Necker  was  recalled  into  office. 

The  attempt  to  establish  the  Cour  pleniere 
had  an  effect  upon  the  nation  which  was  not  an- 
ticipated. It  was  a  sort  of  new  form  of  govern- 
ment, that  insensibly  served  to  put  the  old  one 
out  of  sight,  and  to  unhinge  it  from  the  supersti- 
tious authority  of  antiquity.  It  was  government 
dethroning  government;  and  the  old  one,  by  at- 
tempting to  make  a  new  one,  made  a  chasm. 

The  failure  of  this  scheme  renewed  the  sub- 
ject of  convening  the  States-General:  and  this 
gave  rise  to  a  new  series  of  politics.  There  was 
no  settled  form  for  convening  the  States-Gen- 
eral; all  that  it  positively  meant,  was  a  deputa- 
tion from  what  was  then  called  the  Clergy,  the 
Nobility  and  the  Commons;  but  their  numbers, 
or  their  proportions,  had  not  been  always  the 
same.  They  had  been  convened  only  on  extra- 
ordinary occasions,  the  last  of  which  was  in  1614 ; 
their  numbers  were  then  in  equal  proportions, 
and  they  voted  by  orders. 

It  could  not  well  escape  the  sagacity  of  M. 
Necker,  that  the  mode  of  1614  would  answer 
neither  the  purpose  of  the  then  Government,  nor 
of  the  nation.  As  matters  were  at  that  time  cir- 
cumstanced, it  would  have  been  too  contentious 
122 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

to  agree  upon  anything.  The  debates  would 
have  been  endless  upon  privileges  and  exemp- 
tions, in  which  neither  the  wants  of  the  Govern- 
ment, nor  the  wishes  of  the  nation  for  a  consti- 
tution, would  have  been  attended  to.  But  as  he 
did  not  choose  to  take  the  decision  upon  himself, 
be  summoned  again  the  Assembly  of  the  Nota- 
bles, and  referred  it  to  them.  This  body  was  in 
general  interested  in  the  decision,  being  chiefly 
of  the  aristocracy  and  the  high  paid  clergy;  and 
they  decided,  in  favor  of  the  mode  of  1614. 

This  decision  was  against  the  sense  of  the 
nation,  and  also  against  the  wishes  of  the  Court; 
for  the  aristocracy  opposed  itself  to  both,  and 
contended  for  privileges  independent  of  either. 
The  subject  was  then  taken  up  by  the  Parlia- 
ment, who  recommended  that  the  number  of  the 
Commons  should  be  equal  to  the  other  two;  and 
that  they  should  all  sit  in  one  house,  and  vote  in 
one  body. 

The  number  finally  determined  on  was  twelve 
hundi'ed:  six  hundred  to  be  chosen  by  the  Com- 
mons (and  this  was  less  than  their  proportion 
ought  to  have  been  when  their  worth  and  conse- 
quence is  considered  on  a  national  scale)  three 
hundred  by  the  clergy,  and  three  hundred  by  the 
aristocracy;  but  with  respect  to  the  mode  of 

123 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

assembling  themselves,  whether  together  or 
apart,  or  the  manner  in  which  they  should  vote, 
those  matters  were  referred.* 

The  election  that  followed,  was  not  a  con- 
tested election,  but  an  animated  one.  The  can- 
didates were  not  men  but  principles.  Societies 
were  formed  in  Paris,  and  committees  of 
correspondence  and  communication  established 
throughout  the  nation,  for  the  purpose  of  en- 

*  Mr.  Burke  (and  I  must  take  the  liberty  of  telling  him  he  is 
very  unacquainted  with  French  affairs,)  speaking  upon  this  sub- 
ject, says,  "  The  first  thing  that  struck  me  in  the  calling  the 
States-General,  was  a  great  departure  from  the  ancient  course;" 
and  he  soon  after  saj-s,  "  From  the  moment  I  read  the  list,  I  saw 
distinctly,  and  very  nearly  as  it  has  happened,  all  that  was  to  fol- 
low." Mr.  Burke  certainly  did  not  see  all  that  was  to  follow.  I 
endeavored  to  impress  him,  as  well  before  as  after  the  States-Gen- 
eral met,  that  there  would  be  a  revolution;  but  was  not  able  to 
make  him  see  it,  neither  would  he  believe  it.  How  then  he  could 
distinctly  see  all  the  parts,  when  the  whole  was  out  of  sight,  is  be- 
yond my  comprehension.  And  with  respect  to  the  "  departure  " 
from  the  ancient  "  course,"  besides  the  natural  weakness  of  the 
remark,  it  shows  that  he  is  unacquainted  with  circumstances.  The 
departure  was  necessary,  from  the  experience  had  upon  it,  that 
the  ancient  course  was  a  bad  one. 

The  States-General  of  1614  were  called  at  the  commencement 
of  the  civil  war  in  the  minority  of  Louis  XIII.  But  by  the  clash 
of  arranging  them  by  orders,  they  increased  the  confusion  they 
were  called  to  compose.  The  author  of  L'Intrigue  du  Cabinet 
(Intrigue  of  the  Cabinet),  who  wrote  before  any  revolution  was 
thought  of  in  France,  speaking  of  the  States-General  of  1614, 
says,  "  They  held  the  public  in  suspense  five  months ;  and  by  the 
questions  agitated  therein,  and  the  heat  with  which  they  were  put, 
it  appears  that  the  great  (les  grands)  thought  more  to  satisfy 
their  particular  passions,  than  to  procure  the  good  of  the  nation; 
and  the  whole  time  passed  away  in  altercations,  ceremonies  and 
parade." — L'Intrigue  du  Cabinet,  vol.  1. 

124 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

lightening  the  people,  and  explaining  to  them 
the  principles  of  civil  government;  and  so  or- 
derly was  the  election  conducted,  that  it  did  not 
give  rise  even  to  the  rumor  of  tumult. 

The  States- General  were  to  meet  at  Ver- 
sailles in  April,  1789,  but  did  not  assemble  till 
May.  They  situated  themselves  in  three  separate 
chambers,  or  rather  the  clergy  and  the  aristoc- 
racy withdrew  each  into  a  separate  chamber. 
The  majority  of  the  aristocracy  claimed  what 
they  called  the  privilege  of  voting  as  a  separate 
body,  and  of  giving  their  consent  or  their  nega- 
tive in  that  manner ;  and  many  of  the  bishops  and 
the  high-beneficed  clergy  claimed  the  same  privi- 
lege on  the  part  of  their  order. 

The  Tiers  Etat  (as  they  were  then  called) 
disowned  any  knowledge  of  artificial  orders  and 
artificial  privileges ;  and  they  were  not  only  reso- 
lute on  this  point,  but  somewhat  disdainful. 
They  began  to  consider  aristocracy  as  a  kind  of 
fungus  growing  out  of  the  corruption  of  society, 
that  could  not  be  admitted  even  as  a  branch  of 
it;  and  from  the  disposition  the  aristocracy 
had  shown  by  upholding  Lettres  de  Cachet,  and 
in  sundry  other  instances,  it  was  manifest  that 
no  constitution  could  be  formed  by  admitting 
men  in  any  other  character  than  as  national  men. 

125 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

After  various  altercations  on  this  head,  the 
Tiers  Etat  or  Commons  (as  they  were  then 
called)  declared  themselves  (on  motion  made  for 
that  purpose  by  the  Abbe  Sieyes)  "  the  repre- 
sentatives OF  THE  nation;  and  that  the  two 
Orders  could  he  considered  hut  as  deputies  of 
corporations,  and  could  only  have  a  deliherative 
voice  when  they  assembled  in  a  national  charac- 
ter with  the  national  representatives/'  This  pro- 
ceeding extinguished  the  style  of  Etats  Gener- 
aux,  or  States-General,  and  erected  it  into  the 
style  it  now  bears,  that  of  UAssemhlee  Na- 
tionale,  or  National  Assembly. 

This  motion  was  not  made  in  a  precipitate 
manner:  It  was  the  result  of  cool  deliberation, 
and  concerted  between  the  national  representa- 
tives and  the  patriotic  members  of  the  two 
chambers,  who  saw  into  the  folly,  mischief  and 
injustice  of  artificial  privileged  distinctions. 

It  was  become  evident,  that  no  constitution, 
worthy  of  being  called  by  that  name,  could  ])e 
established  on  any  thing  less  than  a  national 
ground.  The  aristocracy  had  hitherto  opposed 
the  despotism  of  the  court  and  affected  the  lan- 
guage of  patriotism ;  but  it  opposed  it  as  its  rival 
(as  the  Enghsh  barons  opposed  King  John) ,  and 
it  now  opposed  the  nation  from  the  same  motives. 
126 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

On  carrying  this  motion,  the  national  repre- 
sentatives, as  had  been  concerted,  sent  an  invita- 
tion to  the  two  chambers,  to  unite  with  them  in 
a  national  character,  and  proceed  to  business. 
A  majority  of  the  clergy,  chiefly  of  the  parish 
priests,  withdrew  from  the  clerical  chamber,  and 
joined  the  nation;  and  forty-five  from  the  other 
chamber  joined  in  like  manner. 

There  is  a  sort  of  secret  history  belonging  to 
this  last  circumstance,  which  is  necessary  to  its 
explanation:  It  was  not  judged  prudent  that  all 
the  patriotic  members  of  the  chamber  styling 
itself  the  Nobles,  should  quit  it  at  once;  and  in 
consequence  of  this  arrangement,  they  drew 
off  by  degrees,  always  leaving  some,  as  well  to 
reason  the  case,  as  to  watch  the  suspected. 

In  a  little  time,  the  numbers  increased  from 
forty-five  to  eighty,  and  soon  after  to  a  greater 
number;  which,  with  a  majority  of  the  clergy, 
and  the  whole  of  the  national  representatives, 
put  the  malcontents  in  a  very  diminutive  condi- 
tion. 

The  King,  who,  very  different  from  the  gen- 
eral class  called  by  that  name,  is  a  man  of  a  good 
heart,  showed  himself  disposed  to  recommend  a 
union  of  the  three  chambers,  on  the  ground  the 
National  Assembly  had  taken;  but  tlie  malcon- 

127 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

tents  exerted  themselves  to  prevent  it,  and  began 
now  to  have  another  project  in  view. 

Their  numbers  consisted  of  a  majority  of  the 
aristocratical  chamber,  and  a  minority  of  the 
clerical  chamber,  chiefly  of  bishops  and  high- 
beneficed  clergy ;  and  these  men  were  determined 
to  put  everything  to  issue,  as  well  by  strength 
as  by  stratagem.  They  had  no  objection  to  a 
constitution ;  but  it  must  be  such  an  one  as  them- 
selves should  dictate,  and  suited  to  their  own 
views  and  particular  situations. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  nation  disowned 
knowing  any  thing  of  them  but  as  citizens,  and 
was  determined  to  shut  out  all  such  upstart  pre- 
tensions. The  more  aristocracy  appeared,  the 
more  it  was  despised;  there  was  a  visible  imbe- 
cility and  want  of  intellects  in  the  majority,  a 
sort  of  je  ne  sais  quoi,  that  while  it  affected  to  be 
more  than  citizen,  was  less  than  man.  It  lost 
ground  from  contempt  more  than  from  hatred; 
and  was  rather  jeered  at  as  an  ass,  than  dreaded 
as  a  Hon.  This  is  the  general  character  of  aris- 
tocracy, or  what  are  called  nobles  or  nobility, 
or  rather  no-abihty,  in  all  countries. 

The  plan  of  the  malcontents  consisted  now 
of  two  things;  either  to  deliberate  and  vote  by 
chambers,  (or  orders),  more  especially  on  all 
128 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

questions  respecting  a  constitution,  (by  which 
the  aristocratical  chamber  would  have  a  negative 
on  any  article  of  the  constitution)  ;  or,  in  case 
they  could  not  accomplish  this  object,  to  over- 
throw the  National  Assembly  entirely. 

To  effect  one  or  other  of  these  objects,  they 
began  now  to  cultivate  a  friendship  with  the  des- 
potism they  had  hitherto  attempted  to  rival,  and 
the  Count  D'Artois  became  their  chief.  The 
King  (who  has  since  declared  himself  deceived 
into  their  measures)  held,  according  to  the  old 
form,  a  Bed  of  Justice,  in  which  he  accorded  to 
the  deliberation  and  vote  par  tete  (by  head) 
upon  several  subjects;  but  reserved  the  deliber- 
ation and  vote  upon  all  questions  respecting  a 
constitution,  to  the  three  chambers  separately. 

The  declaration  of  the  King  was  made 
against  the  advice  of  ]M.  Necker,  who  now  began 
to  perceive  that  he  was  growing  out  of  fashion  at 
Court,  and  that  another  minister  was  in  con- 
templation. 

As  the  form  of  sitting  in  separate  chambers 
was  yet  apparently  kept  up,  though  essentially 
destroyed,  the  national  representatives,  immedi- 
ately after  this  declaration  of  the  King,  resorted 
to  their  own  chambers  to  consult  on  a  protest 
against  it;  and  the  minority  of  the  chamber 

129 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

(calling  itself  the  Nobles),  who  had  joined  the 
national  cause,  retired  to  a  private  house  to  con- 
sult in  like  manner.  The  malcontents  had  by 
this  time  concerted  their  measures  with  the  Court, 
which  Count  D'Artois  undertook  to  conduct; 
and  as  they  saw  from  the  discontent  which  the 
declaration  excited,  and  the  opposition  making 
against  it,  that  they  could  not  obtain  a  control 
over  the  intended  constitution  by  a  separate  vote, 
they  prepared  themselves  for  their  final  object — 
that  of  conspiring  against  the  National  Assem- 
bly and  overthrowing  it. 

The  next  morning,  the  door  of  the  chamber 
of  the  National  Assembly  was  shut  against  them, 
and  guarded  by  troops;  and  the  members  were 
refused  admittance.  On  this  they  withdrew  to 
a  tennis-ground  in  the  neighborhood  of  Ver- 
sailles, as  the  most  convenient  place  they  could 
find,  and,  after  renewing  their  session,  took  an 
oath  never  to  separate  from  each  other,  under 
any  circumstances  whatever,  death  excepted, 
until  they  had  established  a  constitution. 

As  the  experiment  of  shutting  up  the  House 
had  no  other  effect  than  that  of  producing  a 
closer  connection  in  the  members,  it  was  opened 
again  the  next  day,  and  the  public  business  re- 
commenced in  the  usual  place. 
130 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

We  are  now  to  have  in  view  the  forming  of 
the  new  Ministry,  which  was  to  accomplish  the 
overthrow  of  the  National  Assembly.  But  as 
force  would  be  necessary,  orders  were  issued  to 
assemble  thirty  thousand  troops,  the  command  of 
which  was  given  to  Broglio,  one  of  the  new-in- 
tended Ministry,  who  was  recalled  from  the  coun- 
try for  this  purpose.  But  as  some  management 
was  necessary  to  keep  this  plan  concealed  till  the 
moment  it  should  be  ready  for  execution,  it  is  to 
this  policy  that  a  declaration  made  by  the  Count 
D'Artois  must  be  attributed,  and  which  is  here 
proper  to  be  introduced. 

It  could  not  but  occur,  that  while  the  mal- 
contents continued  to  resort  to  their  chambers 
separate  from  the  National  Assembly,  that  more 
jealousy  would  be  excited  than  if  they  were 
mixed  with  it,  and  that  the  plot  might  be  sus- 
pected. But  as  they  had  taken  their  ground,  and 
now  wanted  a  pretense  for  quitting  it,  it  was 
necessary  that  one  should  be  devised. 

This  was  effectually  accomplished  by  a  dec- 
laration made  by  Count  D'Artois,  "that  if  they 
took  not  a  part  in  the  National  Assembly,  the 
life  of  the  King  xcould  he  endangered"  on  which 
they  quitted  their  chambers,  and  mixed  with  the 
Assembly  in  one  body. 

131 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

At  the  time  this  declaration  was  made,  it  was 
generally  treated  as  a  piece  of  absurdity  in  the 
Count  D'Artois,  and  calculated  merely  to  relieve 
the  outstanding  members  of  the  two  chambers 
from  the  diminutive  situation  they  were  put  in; 
and  if  nothing  more  had  followed,  this  conclu- 
sion would  have  been  good.  But  as  things  best 
explain  themselves  by  their  events,  this  apparent 
union  was  only  a  cover  to  the  machinations  that 
were  secretly  going  on;  and  the  declaration  ac- 
commodated itself  to  answer  that  purpose. 

In  a  little  time  the  National  Assembly  found 
itself  surrounded  by  troops,  and  thousands  more 
daily  arriving.  On  this  a  very  strong  declaration 
was  made  by  the  National  Assembly  to  the  King, 
remonstrating  on  the  impropriety  of  the  meas- 
ure, and  demanding  the  reason.  The  King,  who 
was  not  in  the  secret  of  this  business,  as  himself 
afterwards  declared,  gave  substantially  for  an- 
swer, that  he  had  no  other  object  in  view  than 
to  preserve  public  tranquillity,  which  appeared  to 
be  much  disturbed. 

But  in  a  few  days  from  this  time,  the  plot 
unravelled  itself.  M.  Necker  and  the  Ministry 
were  displaced,  and  a  new  one  formed  of  the 
enemies  of  the  Revolution ;  and  Brogho,  with  be- 
tween twenty-five  to  thirty  thousand  foreign 
132 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

troops,  was  arrived  to  support  them.  The  mask 
was  now  thrown  oif ,  and  matters  were  come  to 
a  crisis.  The  event  was,  that  in  the  space  of  three 
days,  the  new  ^Ministry,  and  all  their  abettors 
found  it  prudent  to  fly  the  nation;  the  Bastille 
was  taken,  and  Broglio  and  his  foreign  troops 
dispersed;  as  is  already  related  in  a  former  part 
of  this  work. 

There  are  some  curious  circumstances  in  the 
history  of  this  short-lived  Ministry,  and  this  brief 
attempt  at  a  counter-revolution.  The  palace  of 
Versailles,  where  the  Court  was  sitting,  was 
not  more  than  four  hundred  yards  distant 
from  the  hall  where  the  National  Assembly 
was  sitting.  The  two  places  were  at  this  moment 
like  the  separate  headquarters  of  two  combatant 
armies;  yet  the  Court  was  as  perfectly  ignorant 
of  the  information  which  had  arrived  from  Paris 
to  the  National  Assembly,  as  if  it  had  resided  at 
an  hundred  miles  distance. 

The  then  Marquis  de  la  Fayette,  who  (as  has 
been  already  mentioned)  was  chosen  to  preside  in 
the  National  Assembly  on  this  particular  occa- 
sion, named,  by  order  of  the  Assembly,  three  suc- 
cessive deputations  to  the  King,  on  the  day,  and 
up  to  the  evening  on  which  the  Bastille  was 
taken,  to  inform  and  confer  with  him  on  the  state 

133 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

of  affairs;  but  the  Ministry,  who  knew  not  so 
much  as  that  it  was  attacked,  precluded  all  com- 
munication, and  were  solacing  themselves  how 
dexterously  they  had  succeeded:  but  in  a  few 
hours  the  accounts  arrived  so  thick  and  fast,  that 
they  had  to  start  from  their  desks  and  run :  some 
set  oiF  in  one  disguise,  and  some  in  another,  and 
none  in  their  own  character.  Their  anxiety  now 
was  to  outride  the  news,  lest  they  should  be 
stopped,  which,  though  it  flew  fast,  flew  not  so 
fast  as  themselves. 

It  is  worth  remarking,  that  the  National  As- 
sembly neither  pursued  those  fugitive  conspira- 
tors, nor  took  any  notice  of  them,  nor  sought  to 
retaliate  in  any  shape  whatever.  Occupied  with 
establishing  a  constitution,  founded  on  the 
rights  of  man  and  the  authority  of  the  people, 
the  only  authority  on  which  government  has  a 
right  to  exist  in  any  country,  the  National  As- 
sembly felt  none  of  those  mean  passions  which 
mark  the  character  of  impertinent  governments, 
founding  themselves  on  their  own  authority,  or 
on  the  absurdity  of  hereditary  succession.  It  is 
the  faculty  of  the  human  mind  to  become  what 
it  contemplates,  and  to  act  in  unison  with  its 
object. 

The  conspiracy  being  thus  dispersed,  one  of 

134 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

the  first  works  of  the  National  Assembly,  instead 
of  vindictive  proclamations,  as  has  been  the  case 
with  other  governments,  published  a  Declara- 
tion of  the  Rights  of  JNIan,  as  the  basis  on  which 
the  new  Constitution  was  to  be  built,  and  which 
is  here  subjoined. 


135 


DECLARATION 

OF  THE 

RIGHTS  OF  MAN  AND  OF  CITIZENS 

By  the  National  Assembly  of  France 


i^rr^HE  Representatives  of  the  people  of 
A  France^  formed  into  a  National  As- 
SEMBLY;,  considering  that  ignorance,  neglect,  or 
contempt  of  human  rights,  are  the  sole  causes 
of  public  misfortunes  and  corruptions  of  gov- 
ernment, have  resolved  to  set  forth  in  a  solemn 
declaration,  these  natural,  imprescriptible,  and 
unalienable  rights:  that  this  declaration,  being 
constantly  present  to  the  minds  of  the  members 
of  the  body  social,  they  may  be  ever  kept 
attentive  to  their  rights  and  their  duties:  that 
the  acts  of  the  legislative  and  executive  powers  of 
government,  being  capable  of  being  every  mo- 
ment compared  with  the  end  of  political  institu- 
tions, may  be  more  respected:  and  also,  that  the 
future  claims  of  the  citizens,  being  directed  by 
simple  and  incontestible  principles,  may  always 
tend  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Constitution,  and 
the  general  happiness. 
186 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

"For  these  reasons  the  National  Assembly 
doth  recognize  and  declare,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  and  with  the  hope  of  His  bless- 
ing and  favor,  the  following  sacred  rights  of  men 
and  of  citizens : 

"I.  Men  are  horn,  and  always  continue,  free, 
and  equal  in  respect  of  their  rights.  Civil  dis- 
tinctions, therefore,  can  he  founded  only  on  pub- 
lic utility. 

"11.  The  end  of  all  political  associations,  is, 
the  preservation  of  the  natural  and  imprescript- 
ible rights  of  man;  and  these  rights  are  liberty, 
property,  security,  and  resistance  of  oppression. 

"HI.  The  nation  is  essentially  the  source  of 
all  sovereignty;  nor  can  any  individual^  or  any 
BODY  OF  MENj  be  entitled  to  any  authority  which 
is  not  expressly  derived  from  it. 

"IV.  Political  liberty  consists  in  the  power 
of  doing  whatever  does  not  injure  another.  The 
exercise  of  the  natural  rights  of  every  man  has 
no  other  limits  than  those  which  are  necessary  to 
secure  to  every  other  man  the  free  exercise  of  the 
same  rights;  and  these  limits  are  determinable 
only  by  the  law. 

"V.  The  law  ought  to  prohibit  only  actions 
hurtful  to  society.  What  is  not  prohibited  by 
the  law,  should  not  be  hindered;  nor  should  any 

137 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

one  be  compelled  to  that  which  the  law  does  not 
require. 

"VI.  The  law  is  an  expression  of  the  will  of 
the  community.  All  citizens  have  a  right  to  con- 
cur, either  personally,  or  by  their  representatives, 
in  its  formation.  It  should  be  the  same  to  all, 
whether  it  protects  or  punishes;  and  all  being 
equal  in  its  sights  are  equally  eligible  to  all  hon- 
ors, places,  and  employments,  according  to  their 
different  abilities,  without  any  other  distinction 
than  that  created  by  their  virtues  and  talents. 

"VII.  No  man  should  be  accused,  arrested, 
or  held  in  confinement,  except  in  cases  deter- 
mined by  the  law,  and  according  to  the  forms 
which  it  has  prescribed.  All  who  promote,  solicit, 
execute,  or  cause  to  be  executed,  arbitrary  orders, 
ought  to  be  punished;  and  every  citizen  called 
upon  or  apprehended  by  virtue  of  the  law,  ought 
immediately  to  obey,  and  renders  himself  cul- 
pable by  resistance. 

"VIII.  The  law  ought  to  impose  no  other 
penalties  but  such  as  are  absolutely  and  evidently 
necessary:  and  no  one  ought  to  be  punished,  but 
in  virtue  of  a  law  promulgated  before  the  of- 
fense, and  legally  applied. 

"IX.  Every  man  being  presumed  innocent 
till  he  has  been  convicted,  whenever  his  detention 

138 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

becomes  indispensable,all  rigor  to  him,  more  than 
is  necessary  to  secure  his  person,  ought  to  be  pro- 
vided against  by  the  law. 

"X.  No  man  ought  to  be  molested  on  ac- 
count of  his  opinions,  not  even  on  account  of  his 
religious  opinions,  provided  his  avowal  of  them 
does  not  disturb  the  public  order  established  by 
the  law. 

"XI.  The  unrestrained  communication  of 
thoughts  and  opinions  being  one  of  the  most 
precious  rights  of  man,  every  citizen  may  speak, 
write,  and  publish  freely,  provided  he  is  respon- 
sible for  the  abuse  of  this  liberty  in  cases  de- 
termined by  the  law. 

"XII.  A  public  force  being  necessary  to  give 
security  to  the  rights  of  men  and  of  citizens,  that 
force  is  instituted  for  the  benefit  of  the  com- 
munity, and  not  for  the  particular  benefit  of  the 
persons  with  whom  it  is  intrusted. 

"XIII.  A  common  contribution  being  neces- 
sary for  the  support  of  the  public  force,  and  for 
defraying  the  other  expenses  of  government,  it 
ought  to  be  divided  equally  among  the  members 
of  the  community,  according  to  their  abilities. 

"XIV.  Every  citizen  has  a  right,  either  by 
himself  or  his  representative,  to  a  free  voice  in 
determining  the  necessity  of  public  contributions, 

189 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

the  appropriation  of  them,  and  their  amount, 
mode  of  assessment,  and  duration. 

"XV.  Every  community  has  a  right  to  de- 
mand of  all  its  agents,  an  account  of  their  con- 
duct. 

"XVI.  Every  community  in  which  a  separa- 
tion of  powers  and  a  security  of  rights  is  not  pro- 
vided for,  wants  a  constitution. 

"XVII.  The  rights  to  property  being  inviol- 
able and  sacred,  no  one  ought  to  be  deprived  of 
it,  except  in  cases  of  evident  public  necessity, 
legally  ascertained,  and  on  condition  of  a  pre- 
vious just  indenmity." 


140 


OBSERVATIONS 

ON  THE 

DECLARATION  OF  RIGHTS 


THE  three  first  articles  comprehend  in  gen- 
eral terms  the  whole  of  a  Declaration  of 
Rights:  All  the  succeeding  articles  either  orig- 
inate from  them,  or  follow  as  elucidations.  The 
fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  define  more  particularly 
what  is  only  generally  expressed  in  the  first,  sec- 
ond, and  third. 

The  seventh,  eighth,  ninth,  tenth,  and 
eleventh  articles,  are  declaratory  of  principles 
upon  which  laws  shall  be  constructed,  conform- 
able to  lights  already  declared.  But  it  is  ques- 
tioned by  some  very  good  people  in  France,  as 
well  as  in  other  countries,  whether  the  tenth  ar- 
ticle sufficiently  guarantees  the  right  it  is  intend- 
ed to  accord  with ;  besides  which,  it  takes  off  from 
the  divine  dignity  of  religion,  and  weakens  its 
operative  force  upon  the  mind,  to  make  it  a  sub- 
ject of  human  laws.  It  then  presents  itself  to 
man,  like  light  intercepted  by  a  cloudy  medium, 
in  which  the  source  of  it  is  obscured  from  his 

14.1 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

sight,  and  he  sees  nothing  to  reverence  in  the 
dusky  ray.* 

The  remaining  articles,  beginning  with  the 
twelfth,  are  substantially  contained  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  preceding  articles;  but,  in  the  par- 
ticular situation  in  which  France  then  was,  hav- 
ing to  undo  what  was  wrong,  as  well  as  to  set 
up  what  was  right,  it  was  proper  to  be  more  par- 
ticular than  what  in  another  condition  of  things 
would  be  necessary. 

While  the  Declaration  of  Rights  was  before 
the  National  Assembly,  some  of  its  members  re- 
marked, that  if  a  Declaration  of  Rights  was  pub- 
lished, it  should  be  accompanied  by  a  Declaration 
of  Duties.     The  observation  discovered  a  mind 

*  There  is  a  single  idea,  which,  if  it  strikes  rightly  upon  the 
mind,  either  in  a  legal  or  a  religious  sense,  will  prevent  any  man, 
or  any  body  of  men,  or  any  government,  from  going  wrong  on  the 
subject  of  religion;  which  is,  that  before  any  human  institutions 
of  government  were  known  in  the  world,  there  existed,  if  I  may 
so  express  it,  a  compact  between  God  and  man,  from  the  begin- 
ning of  time;  and  that  as  the  relation  and  condition  which  man 
in  his  individual  person  stands  in  toward  his  Maker  cannot  be 
changed,  or  any  ways  altered  by  any  human  laws  or  human  au- 
thority, that  religious  devotion,  which  is  a  part  of  this  compact, 
cannot  so  much  as  be  made  a  subject  of  human  laws;  and  that 
all  laws  must  conform  themselves  to  this  prior  existing  compact, 
and  not  assume  to  make  the  compact  conform  to  the  laws,  which, 
besides  being  human,  are  subsequent  thereto.  The  first  act  of 
man,  when  he  looked  around  and  saw  himself  a  creature  which  he 
did  not  make,  and  a  world  furnished  for  his  reception,  must  have 
been  devotion;  and  devotion  must  ever  continue  sacred  to  every 
individual  man,  as  it  appears  right  to  him;  and  governments  do 
mischief  by  interfering. 

142 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

that  reflected,  and  it  only  erred  by  not  reflecting 
far  enough.  A  Declaration  of  Rights  is,  by 
reciprocity,  a  Declaration  of  Duties  also.  What- 
ever is  my  right  as  a  man,  is  also  the  right  of 
another;  and  it  becomes  my  duty  to  guarantee, 
as  well  as  to  possess. 

The  three  first  articles  are  the  basis  of  lib- 
erty, as  well  individual  as  national;  nor  can  any 
country  be  called  free,  whose  government  does 
not  take  its  beginning  from  the  principles  they 
contain,  and  continue  to  preserve  them  pure; 
and  the  whole  of  the  Declaration  of  Rights  is  of 
more  value  to  the  world,  and  will  do  more  good, 
than  all  the  laws  and  statutes  that  have  yet  been 
promulgated. 

In  the  declaratory  exordium  which  prefaces 
the  Declaration  of  Rights,  we  see  the  solemn  and 
majestic  spectacle  of  a  nation  opening  its  com- 
mission, under  the  auspices  of  its  Creator,  to  es- 
tablish a  Government;  a  scene  so  new,  and  so 
transcendently  unequalled  by  any  thing  in  the 
European  world,  that  the  name  of  a  revolution 
is  diminutive  of  its  character,  and  it  rises  into  a 
regeneration  of  man. 

What  are  the  present  governments  of  Eu- 
rope, but  a  scene  of  iniquity  and  oppression? 
What  is  that  of  England?    Do  not  its  own  in- 

143 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

habitants  say,  It  is  a  market  where  every  man 
has  his  price,  and  where  corruption  is  common 
traffic,  at  the  expense  of  a  deluded  people?  No 
w^onder,  then,  that  the  French  Revolution  is  tra- 
duced. 

Had  it  confined  itself  merely  to  the  de- 
struction of  flagrant  despotism,  perhaps  Mr. 
Burke  and  some  others  had  been  silent.  Their 
cry  now  is,  "It  is  gone  too  far:"  that  is,  it  has 
gone  too  far  for  them.  It  stares  corruption  in 
the  face,  and  the  venal  tribe  are  all  alarmed. 
Their  fear  discovers  itself  in  their  outrage,  and 
they  are  but  publishing  the  groans  of  a  wounded 
vice. 

But  from  such  opposition,  the  French  Revo- 
lution, instead  of  suffering,  receives  an  homage. 
The  more  it  is  struck,  the  more  sparks  it  will 
emit ;  and  the  fear  is,  it  will  not  be  struck  enough. 
It  has  nothing  to  dread  from  attacks:  Truth 
has  given  it  an  establishment;  and  Time  will 
record  it  with  a  name  as  lasting  as  his  own. 

Having  now  traced  the  progress  of  the 
French  Revolution  through  most  of  its  principal 
stages,  from  its  commencement,  to  the  taking  of 
the  BastiUe,  and  its  establishment  by  the  Declara- 
tion of  Rights,  I  will  close  the  subject  with  the 
energetic  apostrophe  of  M.  de  la  Fayette — May 
144 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

iJiis  great  monument^  raised  to  Liberty,  serve  as 
a  lesson  to  the  oppressor,  and  an  example  to  the 
oppressed!* 

*  See  p.  16  of  this  work. — N.  B.  Since  the  taking  of  the  Bas- 
tille, the  occurrences  have  been  published;  but  the  matters  re- 
corded in  this  narrative  are  prior  to  that  period;  and  some  of 
them,  as  may  be  easily  seen,  can  be  but  very  little  known. 


145 


MISCELLANEOUS  CHAPTER 


TO  prevent  interrupting  the  argument  of  the 
preceding  part  of  this  work,  or  the  narra- 
tive that  follows  it,  I  reserved  some  observa- 
tions to  be  thrown  together  into  a  Miscellane- 
ous Chapter;  by  which  variety  might  not  be 
censured  for  confusion.  Mr.  Burke's  book  is  all 
Miscellany.  His  intention  was  to  make  an  at- 
tack on  the  French  Revolution;  but  instead  of 
proceeding  with  an  orderly  arrangement,  he  has 
stormed  it  with  a  mob  of  ideas  tumbling  over 
and  destroying  one  another. 

But  this  confusion  and  contradiction  in  Mr. 
Burke's  book  is  easily  accounted  for.  When  a 
man  in  a  long  cause  attempts  to  steer  his  course 
by  any  thing  else  than  some  polar  truth  or  prin- 
ciple, he  is  sure  to  be  lost.  It  is  beyond  the  com- 
pass of  his  capacity  to  keep  all  the  parts  of  an 
argument  together,  and  make  them  unite  in  one 
issue  by  any  other  means  than  having  this  guide 
always  in  view.  Neither  memory  nor  invention 
will  supply  the  want  of  it.  The  former  fails  him, 
and  the  latter  betrays  him. 

Notwithstanding  the  nonsense,  for  it  deserves 
146 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

no  better  name,  that  Mr.  Burke  has  asserted 
about  hereditary  rights,  and  hereditary  succes- 
sion, and  that  a  nation  has  not  a  right  to  form  a 
government  for  itself;  it  happened  to  fall  in  his 
way  to  give  some  account  of  what  Government 
is.  "Government"  says  he,  "is  a  contrivance  of 
human  wisdom." 

Admitting  that  Government  is  a  contrivance 
of  human  wisdom,  it  must  necessarily  follow, 
that  hereditary  succession,  and  hereditary  rights 
(as  they  are  called) ,  can  make  no  part  of  it,  be- 
cause it  is  impossible  to  make  wisdom  hereditary ; 
and  on  the  other  hand,  that  cannot  be  a  wise  con- 
trivance, which  in  its  operation  may  commit  the 
government  of  a  nation  to  the  wisdom  of  an 
idiot.  The  ground  which  Mr.  Burke  now  takes, 
is  fatal  to  every  part  of  his  cause. 

The  argument  changes  from  hereditary 
rights  to  hereditary  wisdom ;  and  the  question  is. 
Who  is  the  wisest  man?  He  must  now  show  that 
every  one  in  the  line  of  hereditary  succession  was 
a  Solomon,  or  his  title  is  not  good  to  be  a  king. 
What  a  stroke  has  Mr.  Burke  now  made  I  To 
use  a  sailor's  phrase,  he  has  swabbed  the  deck, 
and  scarcely  left  a  name  legible  in  the  list  of 
kings;  and  he  has  mowed  down  and  thinned  the 
House  of  Peers,  with  a  scythe  as  formidable  as 

147 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

Death  and  Time.  But  Mr.  Burke  appears  to 
have  been  aware  of  this  retort,  and  he  has  taken 
care  to  guard  against  it,  by  making  government 
to  be  not  only  a  contrivance  of  human  wisdom, 
but  a  monopoly  of  wisdom.  He  puts  the  nation 
as  fools  on  one  side,  and  places  his  government 
of  wisdom,  all  wise  men  of  Gotham,  on  the  other 
side;  and  he  then  proclaims,  and  says,  that  "meii 
have  a  right  that  their  wants  should  be  pro- 
vided for  by  this  wisdomj" 

Having  thus  made  proclamation,  he  next  pro- 
ceeds to  explain  to  them  what  their  wants  are, 
and  also  what  their  rights  are. 

In  tliis  he  has  succeeded  dexterously,  for  he 
makes  their  wants  to  be  a  want  of  wisdom;  but 
as  this  is  but  cold  comfort,  he  then  informs  them, 
that  they  have  a  right  (not  to  any  of  the  wisdom) 
but  to  be  governed  by  it ;  and  in  order  to  impress 
them  with  a  solemn  reverence  for  this  monopoly- 
government  of  wisdom,  and  of  its  vast  capacity 
for  all  purposes,  possible  or  impossible,  right  or 
wrong,  he  proceeds  with  astrological,  mysterious 
importance,  to  tell  them  its  powers  in  these 
words — 

"The  Rights  of  Man  in  government  are  their 
advantages;  and  these  are  often  in  balances  be- 
tween differences  of  good;  and  in  compromises 
148 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

sometimes  between  good  and  evil,  and  sometimes 
between  evil  and  evil.  Political  reason  is  a  com- 
puting  principle;  adding,  subtracting,  multiply- 
ing, and  dividing,  morally  and  not  metaphy- 
sically, or  mathematically,  true  moral  demonstra- 
tions." 

As  the  wondering  audience  whom  Mr.  Burke 
supposes  himself  talking  to,  may  not  understand 
all  this  learned  jargon,  I  will  undertake  to  be  its 
interpreter.  The  meaning  then,  good  people,  of 
all  this,  is,  that  government  is  governed  hy  no 
principle  whatever;  that  it  can  make  evil  good,  or 
good  evil,  just  as  it  pleases.  In  short,  that  gov- 
ernment is  arbitrary  power. 

But  there  are  some  things  which  Mr.  Burke 
has  forgotten.  First,  he  has  not  shown  where 
the  wisdom  originally  came  from ;  and,  secondly, 
he  has  not  shown  by  what  authority  it  first  began 
to  act.  In  the  manner  he  introduces  the  matter, 
it  is  either  government  stealing  wisdom,  or  wis- 
dom stealing  government.  It  is  without  an 
origin,  and  its  powers  without  authority.  In 
short,  it  is  usurpation. 

Whether  it  be  from  a  sense  of  shame,  or  from 
a  consciousness  of  some  radical  defect  in  a  gov- 
ernment necessary  to  be  kept  out  of  sight,  or 
from  both,  or  from  some  other  cause,  I  undertake 

149 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

not  to  determine ;  but  so  it  is,  that  a  monarchical 
reasoner  never  traces  government  to  jits  source, 
or  from  its  som-ce.  It  is  one  of  the  shibboleths  by 
which  he  may  be  known. 

A  thousand  years  hence,  those  who  shall  live 
in  America,  or  in  France,  will  look  back  with 
contemplative  pride  on  the  origin  of  their  gov- 
ernments, and  say,  this  was  the  work  of  our  glor- 
ious ancestors!  But  what  can  a  monarchical 
talker  say?  What  has  he  to  exult  in?  Alas!  he 
has  nothing.  A  certain  something  forbids  him 
to  look  back  to  a  beginning,  lest  some  robber,  or 
some  Robin  Hood,  should  rise  from  the  long  ob- 
scurity of  time,  and  say,  I  am  the  origin! 

Hard  as  Mr.  Burke  labored  under  the  Re- 
gency Bill  and  Hereditary  Succession  two  years 
ago,  and  much  as  he  dived  for  precedents,  he  stiU 
had  not  boldness  enough  to  bring  up  William  of 
Normandy  and  say,  there  is  the  head  of  the  list! 
there  is  the  fountain  of  honor!  the  son  of  a  prosti- 
tute, and  the  plunderer  of  the  English  nation. 

The  opinions  of  men,  with  respect  to  govern- 
ment, are  changing  fast  in  aU  countries.  The 
revolutions  of  America  and  France  have  thrown 
a  beam  of  light  over  the  world,  which  reaches  into 
man.  The  enormous  expense  of  governments 
has  provoked  people  to  think  by  making  them 
150 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

feel;  and  when  once  the  veil  begins  to  rend,  it 
admits  not  of  repair. 

Ignorance  is  of  a  peculiar  nature:  once  dis- 
pelled, it  is  impossible  to  re-establish  it.  It  is  not 
originally  a  thing  of  itself,  but  is  only  the  ab- 
sence of  knowledge;  and  though  man  may  be 
hept  ignorant,  he  cannot  be  made  ignorant. 

The  mind,  in  discovering  truth,  acts  in  the 
same  manner  as  it  acts  through  the  eye  in  dis- 
covering objects;  when  once  any  object  has  been 
seen,  it  is  impossible  to  put  the  mind  back  to  the 
same  condition  it  was  in  before  it  saw  it.  Those 
who  talk  of  a  counter-revolution  in  France  show 
how  little  they  understand  of  man. 

There  does  not  exist  in  the  compass  of  lan- 
guage, an  arrangement  of  words  to  express  so 
much  as  the  means  of  effecting  a  counter-revolu- 
tion. The  means  must  be  an  obliteration  of 
knowledge;  and  it  has  never  yet  been  discovered 
how  to  make  a  man  unknow  his  knowledge,  or 
unthink  his  thoughts. 

Mr.  Burke  is  laboring  in  vain  to  stop  the 
progress  of  knowledge;  and  it  comes  with  the 
worse  grace  from  him,  as  there  is  a  certain  trans- 
action known  in  the  City,  which  renders  him  sus- 
pected of  being  a  pensioner  in  a  fictitious  name.* 

*  The   biographers   of    Burke   have   silently    passed   over   this 

151 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

This  may  account  for  some  strange  doctrine  he 
has  advanced  in  his  book,  which,  though  he  points 
it  at  the  Revolution  Society,  is  effectually  di- 
rected against  the  whole  nation. 

"The  King  of  England,"  says  he,  "holds  his 
crown  (for  it  does  not  belong  to  the  nation,  ac- 
cording to  Mr.  Burke)  in  contempt  of  the  choice 
of  the  Revolution  Society,  who  have  not  a  single 
vote  for  a  king  among  them  either  individually 
or  collectively;  and  His  Majesty's  heirs,  each  in 
their  time  and  order,  will  come  to  the  crown  with 
the  same  conte7npt  of  their  choice,  with  which 
His  Majesty  has  succeeded  to  that  which  he  now 
wears." 

As  to  who  is  king  of  England  or  elsewhere, 

accusation.  A  letter  of  John  Hall,  dated  London,  May  1st,  1792, 
written  to  a  relative  in  Leicester,  says :  "  You  will  remember  that 
there  was  a  vote  carried,  about  the  conclusion  of  the  American 
war,  that  the  influence  of  the  Crown  had  increased,  was  increas- 
ing, and  should  be  diminished.  Burke,  poor,  and  like  a  good 
angler,  baited  a  hook  with  a  bill  to  bring  into  Parliament,  that  no 
pensions  should  be  given  above  £300  a  year,  but  what  should  be 
publicly  granted,  and  for  what.  (I  may  not  be  quite  particular.) 
To  stop  that  he  took  in  another  person's  name  £1,500  a  year  for 
life,  and  some  time  past  he  disposed  of  it,  or  sold  his  life  out." 
In  1819,  "William  Cobbett  declared:  "As  my  Lord  Grenville 
introduced  the  name  of  Burke,  suffer  me,  My  Lord,  to  introduce 
the  name  of  the  man  (Paine)  who  put  this  Burke  to  shame,  who 
drove  him  off  the  public  stage  to  seek  shelter  in  the  Pension  List, 
and  who  is  now  named  fifty  million  times  where  the  name  of  the 
pensioned  Burke  is  mentioned  once."  A  couplet  of  the  period  ran: 
"  A  pension  makes  him  change  his  plan. 
And  loudly  damn  the  rights  of  man." 

—Ed. 

152 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

or  whether  there  is  any  at  all,  or  whether  the 
people  choose  a  Cherokee  chief,  or  a  Hessian 
hussar  for  a  king,  is  not  a  matter  that  I  trouble 
mj^self  about, — be  that  to  themselves;  but  with 
respect  to  the  doctrine,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the 
rights  of  men  and  nations,  it  is  as  abominable 
as  any  thing  ever  uttered  in  the  most  enslaved 
country  under  heaven. 

Whether  it  sounds  worse  to  my  ear,  by  not 
being  accustomed  to  hear  such  despotism,  than  it 
does  to  the  ear  of  another  person,  I  am  not  so 
well  a  judge  of;  but  of  its  abominable  principle, 
I  am  at  no  loss  to  judge. 

It  is  not  the  Revolution  Society  that  Mr. 
Burke  means;  it  is  the  nation,  as  well  in  its 
original^  as  in  its  representative  character;  and 
he  has  taken  care  to  make  himself  understood,  by 
saying,  that  they  have  not  a  vote  either  collective- 
ly or  individually. 

The  Revolution  Society  is  composed  of  citi- 
zens of  all  denominations,  and  of  members  of 
both  Houses  of  Parliament;  and  consequently, 
if  there  is  not  a  right  to  vote  in  any  of  the  char- 
acters, there  can  be  no  right  to  any,  either  in  the 
nation  or  in  its  Parliament. 

This  ought  to  be  a  caution  to  every  country, 
how  it  imports  foreign  families  to  be  kings.    It  is 

153 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

somewhat  curious  to  observe,  that  although  the 
people  of  England  have  been  in  the  habit  of  talk- 
ing about  kings,  it  is  always  a  foreign  house  of 
kings;  hating  foreigners,  yet  governed  by  them. 
It  is  now  the  House  of  Brunswick,  one  of  the 
petty  tribes  of  Germany. 

It  has  hitherto  been  the  practise  of  the  Eng- 
lish Parliaments,  to  regulate  what  was  called  the 
succession,  (taking  it  for  granted,  that  the  na- 
tion then  continued  to  accord  to  the  form  of  an- 
nexing a  monarchical  branch  to  its  government; 
for  without  this,  the  Parliament  could  not  have 
had  the  authority  to  have  sent  either  to  Holland 
or  to  Hanover,  or  to  impose  a  king  upon  a  nation 
against  its  will).  And  this  must  be  the  utmost 
limit  to  which  Parliament  can  go  upon  the  case; 
but  the  right  of  the  nation  goes  to  the  whole 
case,  because  it  has  the  right  of  changing  its 
whole  form  of  government. 

The  right  of  a  parliament  is  only  a  right  in 
trust,  a  right  by  delegation,  and  that  but  of  a 
very  small  part  of  the  nation;  and  one  of  its 
Houses  has  not  even  this.  But  the  right  of  the 
nation  is  an  original  right,  as  universal  as  taxa- 
tion. The  nation  is  the  paymaster  of  every 
thing,  and  every  thing  must  conform  to  its  gen- 
eral will. 

154 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

I  rememl)er  taking  notice  of  a  speech  in  what 
is  called  the  English  House  of  Peers,  by  the  then 
Earl  of  Shelburne,  and  I  think  it  was  at  the  time 
he  was  Minister,  which  is  applicable  to  this  case. 
I  do  not  directly  charge  my  memory  with  every 
particular;  but  the  words  and  the  purport,  as 
nearly  as  I  remember,  were  these:  That  the 
form  of  a  government  was  a  matter  wholly  at 
the  will  of  the  nation  at  all  times:  that  if  it  chose 
a  monarchial  form,  it  had  a  right  to  have  it  so; 
and  if  it  afterwards  chose  to  be  a  republic,  it  had 
a  right  to  be  a  republic,  and  to  say  to  a  king, 
"We  have  no  longer  any  occasion  for  you." 

When  Mr.  Burke  says  that  "His  Majesty's 
heirs  and  successors,  each  in  their  time  and  order, 
will  come  to  the  crown  with  the  same  contempt  of 
their  choice  with  which  His  Majesty  has  succeed- 
ed to  that  he  wears,"  it  is  saying  too  much  even 
to  the  humblest  individual  in  the  country;  part 
of  whose  daily  labor  goes  toward  making  up  the 
million  sterling  a  year,  which  the  country  gives 
the  person  it  styles  a  king.  Government  with 
insolence  is  despotism;  but  when  contempt  is 
added,  it  becomes  worse;  and  to  pay  for  con- 
tempt, is  the  excess  of  slavery. 

This  species  of  government  comes  from  Ger- 
many ;  and  reminds  me  of  what  one  of  the  Bi*uns- 

155 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

wick  soldiers  told  me,  who  was  taken  prisoner 
by  the  Americans  in  the  late  war.  "Ah!"  said 
he,  "America  is  a  fine,  free  country;  it  is  worth 
the  people's  fighting  for;  I  know  the  difference 
by  knowing  my  own:  in  my  country,  if  the 
Prince  says,  Eat  straw,  we  eat  straw."  God  help 
that  country,  thought  I,  be  it  England  or  else- 
where, whose  liberties  are  to  be  protected  by 
German  principles  of  government,  and  Princes 
of  Brunswick. 

As  Mr.  Burke  sometimes  speaks  of  England, 
sometimes  of  France,  and  sometimes  of  the 
M  orld,  and  of  government  in  general,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  answer  his  book  without  apparently  meet- 
ing him  on  the  same  ground.  Although  princi- 
ples of  government  are  general  subjects,  it  is 
next  to  impossible  in  many  cases  to  separate  them 
from  the  idea  of  place  and  circumstance ;  and  the 
more  so  when  circumstances  are  put  for  argu- 
ments, which  is  frequently  the  case  with  Mr. 
Burke. 

In  the  former  part  of  his  book,  addressing 
himself  to  the  people  of  France,  he  says,  "  No 
experience  has  taught  us,  (meaning  the  Eng- 
lish), that  in  any  other  course  or  method  than 
that  of  an  hereditary  crown,  can  our  liberties  be 
regularly  perpetuated  and  preserved  sacred  as 

156 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

our  hereditary  right"  I  ask  Mr.  Burke  who  is 
to  take  them  away.  M.  de  la  Fayette,  in  speak- 
ing to  France  says,  "For  a  nation  to  he  free,  it  is 
sufficient  that  she  mils  it." 

But  Mr.  Burke  represents  England  as  want- 
ing capacity  to  take  care  of  itself,  and  that  its 
liberties  must  be  taken  care  of  by  a  king,  holding 
it  in  "contempt."  If  England  is  sunk  to  this,  it 
is  preparing  itself  to  eat  straw,  as  in  Hanover  or 
in  Brunswick.  But  besides  the  foUy  of  the 
declaration,  it  happens  that  the  facts  are  all 
against  Mr.  Burke.  It  was  by  the  government 
being  hereditary,  that  the  liberties  of  the  people 
were  endangered.  Charles  I  and  James  II  are 
instances  of  this  truth ;  yet  neither  of  them  went 
so  far  as  to  hold  the  nation  in  contempt. 

As  it  is  sometimes  of  advantage  to  the  peo- 
ple of  one  country,  to  hear  what  those  of  other 
countries  have  to  say  respecting  it,  it  is  possible 
that  the  people  of  France  may  learn  something 
from  Mr.  Burke's  book,  and  that  the  people  of 
England  may  also  learn  something  from  the 
answers  it  will  occasion.  When  nations  fall  out 
about  freedom,  a  wide  field  of  debate  is  opened. 
The  argument  commences  with  the  rights  of  war, 
without  its  evils;  and  as  knowledge  is  the  object 
contended  for,  the  party  that  sustains  the  defeat 

157 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

obtains  the  prize.  Mr.  Burke  talks  about  what 
he  calls  an  hereditary  crown,  as  if  it  were  some 
production  of  nature;  or  as  if,  hke  Time,  it  had 
a  power  to  operate,  not  only  independently,  but 
in  spite  of  man ;  or  as  if  it  were  a  thing  or  a  sub- 
ject  universally  consented  to.  Alas!  it  has  none 
of  those  properties,  but  is  the  reverse  of  them  all. 
It  is  a  thing  of  imagination,  the  propriety  of 
which  is  more  than  doubted,  and  the  legahty  of 
which  in  a  few  years  will  be  denied. 

But,  to  arrange  this  matter  in  a  clearer  view 
than  what  general  expressions  can  convey,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  state  the  distinct  heads  under 
which  (what  is  called)  an  hereditary  crown,  or, 
more  properly  speaking,  an  hereditary  succession 
to  the  government  of  a  nation,  can  be  consid- 
ered; which  are, 

First,  The  right  of  a  particular  family  to 
estabhsh  itself. 

Secondly,  The  right  of  a  nation  to  establish 
a  particular  family. 

With  respect  to  the  first  of  these  heads,  that 
of  a  family  estabhshing  itself  with  hereditary 
powers  on  its  own  authority,  and  independent  of 
the  consent  of  a  nation,  all  men  will  concur  in 
calling  it  despotism ;  and  it  would  be  trespassing 
on  their  understanding  to  attempt  to  prove  it. 
158 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

But  the  second  head,  that  of  a  nation  estab- 
hshing  a  particular  family  with  hereditary  pow- 
ers, does  not  present  itself  as  despotism  on  the 
first  reflection;  but  if  men  will  permit  a  second 
reflection  to  take  place,  and  carry  that  reflection 
forward  but  one  remove  out  of  their  own  persons 
to  that  of  their  offspring,  they  will  then  see  that 
hereditary  succession  becomes  in  its  consequences 
the  same  despotism  to  others,  which  they  repro- 
bated for  themselves.  It  operates  to  preclude 
the  consent  of  the  succeeding  generations;  and 
the  preclusion  of  consent  is  despotism. 

When  the  person  who  at  any  time  shall  be  in 
possession  of  a  government,  or  those  who  stand 
in  succession  to  him,  shall  say  to  a  nation,  I  hold 
this  power  in  "  contempt "  of  you,  it  signifies 
not  on  what  authority  he  pretends  to  say  it.  It 
is  no  relief,  but  an  aggravation  to  a  person  in 
slavery,  to  reflect  that  he  was  sold  by  his  parent; 
and  as  that  which  heightens  the  criminality  of  an 
act  cannot  be  produced  to  prove  the  legality  of 
it,  hereditary  succession  cannot  be  established  as 
a  legal  thing. 

In  order  to  arrive  to  a  more  perfect  decision 
on  this  head,  it  will  be  proper  to  consider  the 
generation  which  undertakes  to  estabhsh  a  fam- 
ily with  hereditary  powers,  apart  and  separate 

159 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

from  the  generations  which  are  to  follow;  and 
also  to  consider  the  character  in  which  the  first 
generation  acts  with  respect  to  succeeding  gen- 
erations. 

The  generation  which  first  selects  a  person, 
and  puts  him  at  the  head  of  its  government, 
either  with  the  title  of  king,  or  any  other  dis- 
tinction, acts  its  own  choice,  be  it  wise  or  foolish, 
as  a  free  agent  for  itself.  The  person  so  set  up 
is  not  hereditary,  but  selected  and  appointed; 
and  the  generation  who  sets  him  up,  does  not 
live  under  an  hereditary  government,  but  under 
a  government  of  its  own  choice  and  establish- 
ment. Were  the  generation  who  sets  him  up, 
and  the  person  so  set  up,  to  live  for  ever,  it  never 
could  become  hereditary  succession;  and  of  con- 
sequence, hereditary  succession  can  only  follow 
on  the  death  of  the  first  parties. 

As  therefore  hereditary  succession  is  out  of 
the  question  with  respect  to  the  iirst  generation, 
we  have  now  to  consider  the  character  in  which 
that  generation  acts  with  respect  to  the  com- 
mencing generation,  and  to  all  succeeding  ones. 

It  assumes  a  character,  to  which  it  has  neither 
right  nor  title.  It  changes  itself  from  a  legis- 
lator to  a  testator,  and  affects  to  make  its  will, 
which  is  to  have  operation  after  the  demise  of  the 
160 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

makers,  to  bequeath  the  government;  and  it  not 
only  attempts  to  bequeath,  but  to  estabhsh  on 
the  succeeding  generation,  a  new  and  different 
form  of  government  under  which  itself  lived. 

Itself,  as  is  already  observed,  lived  not  under 
an  hereditary  government,  but  under  a  govern- 
ment of  its  own  choice  and  establishment;  and  it 
now  attempts,  by  virtue  of  a  will  and  testament, 
(which  it  has  not  authority  to  make),  to  take 
from  the  commencing  generation,  and  all  future 
ones,  the  rights  and  free  agency  by  which  itself 
acted. 

But,  exclusive  of  the  right  which  any  genera- 
tion has  to  act  collectively  as  a  testator,  the  ob- 
jects to  which  it  applies  itself  in  this  case,  are  not 
within  the  compass  of  any  law,  or  of  any  wiU  or 
testament. 

The  rights  of  men  in  society,  are  neither  de- 
visable, nor  transferable,  nor  annihilable,  but  are 
descendible  only;  and  it  is  not  in  the  power  of 
any  generation  to  intercept  finally,  and  cut  off 
the  descent.  If  the  present  generation,  or  any 
other,  are  disposed  to  be  slaves,  it  does  not  lessen 
the  right  of  the  succeeding  generation  to  be  free : 
wrongs  cannot  have  a  legal  descent.  When  ]Mr. 
Burke  attempts  to  maintain,  that  the  English 
nation  did  at  the  Revolution  of  1688,  most  sol- 

161 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

emnly  renounce  and  abdicate  their  rights  for 
themselves,  and  for  all  their  posterity  for  ever; 
he  speaks  a  language  that  merits  not  reply,  and 
which  can  only  excite  contempt  for  his  prostitute 
principles,  or  pity  for  his  ignorance. 

In  whatever  light  hereditary  succession,  as 
growing  out  of  the  will  and  testament  of  some 
former  generation,  presents  itself,  it  is  an  ab- 
surdity. A  cannot  make  a  will  to  take  from  B 
the  property  of  B,  and  give  it  to  C;  yet  this  is 
the  manner  in  which  (what  is  called)  hereditary 
succession  by  law  operates. 

A  certain  former  generation  made  a  will,  to 
take  away  the  rights  of  the  commencing  gen- 
eration, and  all  future  ones,  and  to  convey  those 
rights  to  a  third  person,  who  afterwards  comes 
forward,  and  teUs  them,  in  ^Ir.  Burke's  lan- 
guage, that  they  have  no  rights,  that  their  rights 
are  already  bequeathed  to  him,  and  that  he  will 
govern  in  contempt  of  them.  From  such  prin- 
ciples, and  such  ignorance,  Good  Lord  deliver 
the  world! 

But,  after  all,  what  is  this  metaphor,  called  a 
crown,  or  rather  what  is  monarchy?  Is  it  a 
thing,  or  is  it  a  name,  or  is  it  a  fraud?  Is  it  a 
"  contrivance  of  human  wisdom,"  or  human 
craft,  to  obtain  money  from  a  nation  under  spe- 
162 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

cious  pretenses?  Is  it  a  thing  necessary  to  a 
nation?  If  it  is,  in  what  does  that  necessity  con- 
sist, what  service  does  it  perform,  what  is  its 
business,  and  what  are  its  merits? 

Doth  the  virtue  consist  in  the  metaphor,  or 
in  the  man?  Doth  the  goldsmith  that  makes 
the  crown,  make  the  virtue  also?  Doth  it  operate 
like  Fortunatus'  wishing  cap  or  Harlequin's 
M^ooden  sword?  Doth  it  make  a  man  a  conjuror? 
In  fine,  what  is  it?  It  appears  to  be  a  something 
going  much  out  of  fashion,  falling  into  ridicule, 
and  rejected  in  some  countries  both  as  unneces- 
sary and  expensive.  In  America  it  is  considered 
as  an  absurdity,  and  in  France  it  has  so  far 
declined,  that  the  goodness  of  the  man,  and  the 
respect  for  his  personal  character  are  the  only 
things  that  preserve  the  appearance  of  its  exist- 
ence. 

If  government  he  what  Mr.  Burke  describes 
it,  "a  contrivance  of  human  wisdom,"  I  might 
ask  him  if  wisdom  was  at  such  a  low  ebb  in 
England,  that  it  was  become  necessary  to  import 
it  from  Holland  and  from  Hanover?  But  I  will 
do  the  country  the  justice  to  say,  that  was  not 
the  case;  and  even  if  it  was,  it  mistook  the  cargo. 
The  wisdom  of  every  country,  when  properly 
exerted,  is  sufficient  for  all  its  purposes:  and 

163 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

there  could  exist  no  more  real  occasion  in  Eng- 
land to  have  sent  for  a  Dutch  stadtholder,  or  a 
German  elector,  than  there  was  in  America  to 
have  done  a  similar  thing. 

If  a  country  does  not  understand  its  own 
affairs,  how  is  a  foreigner  to  understand  them, 
who  knows  neither  its  laws,  its  manners,  nor  its 
language?  If  there  existed  a  man  so  transcend- 
ently  wise  above  all  others,  that  his  wisdom  was 
necessary  to  instruct  a  nation,  some  reason  might 
be  offered  for  monarchy;  but  when  we  cast  our 
eyes  about  a  country,  and  observe  how  every  part 
understands  its  own  affairs;  and  when  we  look 
around  the  world,  and  see  that  of  all  men  in  it, 
the  race  of  kings  are  the  most  insignificant  in 
capacity,  our  reason  cannot  fail  to  ask  us — What 
are  those  men  kept  for? 

If  there  is  any  thing  in  monarchy  which  we 
people  of  America  do  not  understand,  I  wish 
Mr.  Burke  would  be  so  kind  as  to  inform  us.  I 
see  in  America,  a  government  extending  over  a 
country  ten  times  as  large  as  England,  and  con- 
ducted with  regularity  for  a  fortieth  part  of  the 
expense  which  government  costs  in  England,  If 
I  ask  a  man  in  America,  if  he  wants  a  king,  he 
retorts,  and  asks  me  if  I  take  him  for  an  idiot. 
How  is  it  that  this  difference  happens?    Are  we 

164 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

more  or  less  wise  than  others?  I  see  in  America, 
the  generality  of  the  people  living  in  a  stjde  of 
plenty  unknown  in  monarchial  countries;  and  I 
see  that  the  principle  of  its  government,  which 
is  that  of  the  equal  Rights  of  Man,  is  making  a 
raj)id  progress  in  the  world. 

If  monarchy  is  a  useless  thing,  why  is  it  kept 
up  any  where?  and  if  a  necessary  thing,  how  can 
it  be  dispensed  with?  That  civil  government  is 
necessary,  all  civilized  nations  will  agree;  but 
civil  government  is  republican  government.  All 
that  part  of  the  government  of  England  which 
begins  with  the  office  of  constable,  and  proceeds 
through  the  departments  of  magistrate,  quarter- 
session,  and  general  assize,  including  the  trial  by 
jury,  is  republican  government.  Nothing  of 
monarchy  appears  in  any  part  of  it,  except  the 
name  which  William  the  Conqueror  imposed 
upon  the  English,  that  of  obliging  them  to  call 
him  "  their  Sovereign  Lord  the  King." 

It  is  easy  to  conceive,  that  a  band  of  inter- 
ested men,  such  as  j^lacemen,  pensioners,  lords 
of  the  bed-chamber,  lords  of  the  kitchen,  lords 
of  the  necessary-house,  and  the  Lord  knows  what 
besides,  can  find  as  many  reasons  for  monarchy 
as  their  salaries,  paid  at  the  expense  of  the  coun- 
try, amount  to ;  but  if  I  ask  the  farmer,  the  man- 

165 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

ufacturer,  the  merchant,  the  tradesman,  and 
down  through  all  the  occupations  of  life  to  the 
common  laborer,  what  service  monarchy  is  to 
him?  He  can  give  me  no  answer.  If  I  ask  him 
what  monarchy  is,  he  believes  it  is  something  like 
a  sinecure. 

Notwithstanding  the  taxes  of  England 
amount  to  almost  seventeen  millions  a  year,  said 
to  be  for  the  expenses  of  government,  it  is  stiU 
evident  that  the  sense  of  the  nation  is  left  to 
govern  itself,  and  does  govern  itself  by  magis- 
trates and  juries,  almost  at  its  own  charge,  on 
republican  principles,  exclusive  of  the  expense 
of  taxes.  The  salaries  of  the  judges  are  almost 
the  only  charge  that  is  paid  out  of  the  revenue. 
Considering  that  all  the  internal  government  is 
executed  by  the  people,  the  taxes  of  England 
ought  to  be  the  lightest  of  any  nation  in  Europe; 
instead  of  which,  they  are  the  contrary.  As  this 
cannot  be  accounted  for  on  the  score  of  civil 
government,  the  subject  necessarily  extends  it- 
self to  the  monarchial  part. 

When  the  people  of  England  sent  for 
George  I  (and  it  would  puzzle  a  wiser  man  than 
Mr.  Burke  to  discover  for  what  he  could  be 
wanted  or  what  service  he  could  render),  they 
ought  at  least  to  have  conditioned  for  the  aban- 
166 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

doninent  of  Hanover.  Besides  the  endless  Ger- 
man intrigues  that  must  follow  from  a  German 
elector  heing  king  of  England,  there  is  a  nat- 
ural impossibility  of  uniting  in  the  same  person 
the  principles  of  freedom  and  the  principles  of 
despotism,  or,  as  it  is  usually  called  in  England, 
arbitrary  power.  A  German  elector  is,  in  his 
electorate,  a  despot:  how  then  could  it  be  ex- 
pected that  he  should  be  attached  to  principles  of 
liberty  in  one  country,  while  his  interest  in  an- 
other was  to  be  supported  by  despotism?  The 
union  cannot  exist ;  and  it  might  easily  have  been 
foreseen,  that  German  electors  would  make  Ger- 
man kings,  or,  in  Mr.  Burke's  words,  would  as- 
sume government  with  "contempt." 

The  English  have  been  in  the  habit  of  consid- 
ering a  king  of  England  only  in  the  character 
in  which  he  appears  to  them;  whereas  the  same 
person,  while  the  connection  lasts,  has  a  home- 
seat  in  another  country,  the  interest  of  which  is 
different  to  their  own,  and  the  principles  of  the 
governments  are  in  opposition  to  each  other.  To 
such  a  person  England  will  appear  as  a  town- 
residence,  and  the  electorate  as  the  estate.  The 
English  may  wish,  as  I  believe  they  do,  success 
to  the  principles  of  hberty  in  France,  or  in  Ger- 
many; but  a  German  elector  trembles  for  the 

167 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

fate  of  despotism  in  his  electorate;  and  the 
Duchy  of  Mecklenburg,  where  the  present 
Queen's  family  governs,  is  under  the  same 
wretched  state  of  arbitrary  power,  and  the  peo- 
ple in  slavish  vassalage. 

There  never  was  a  time  when  it  became  the 
English  to  watch  continental  intrigues  more 
circumspectly  than  at  the  present  moment,  and 
to  distinguish  the  politics  of  the  electorate  from 
the  politics  of  the  nation.  The  Revolution  of 
France  has  entirely  changed  the  ground  with 
respect  to  England  and  France,  as  nations:  but 
the  German  despots,  with  Prussia  at  their  head, 
are  combining  against  liberty;  and  the  fondness 
of  Mr.  Pitt  for  office,  and  the  interest  which  all 
his  family  connections  have  obtained,  do  not  give 
sufficient  security  against  this  intrigue. 

As  every  thing  which  passes  in  the  world  be- 
comes matter  for  history,  I  will  now  quit  this 
subject,  and  take  a  concise  review  of  the  state  of 
parties  and  politics  in  England,  as  Mr.  Burke 
has  done  in  France. 

Whether  the  present  reign  coimnenced  with 
contempt,  I  leave  to  Mr.  Burke:  certain  how- 
ever it  is,  that  it  had  strongly  that  appearance. 
The  animosity  of  the  English  nation,  it  is  very 
well  remembered,  ran  high;  and,  had  the  true 
168 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

principles  of  liberty  been  as  well  understood 
then  as  they  now  promise  to  be,  it  is  probable 
the  nation  would  not  have  patiently  submitted 
to  so  much.  George  I  and  II  were  sensible  of 
a  rival  in  the  remains  of  the  Stuarts;  and  as 
they  could  not  but  consider  themselves  as  stand- 
ing on  their  good  behavior,  they  had  prudence 
to  keep  their  German  principles  of  government 
to  themselves;  but  as  the  Stuart  family  wore 
away,  the  prudence  became  less  necessary. 

The  contest  between  rights,  and  what  were 
called  prerogatives,  continued  to  heat  the  nation 
till  some  time  after  the  conclusion  of  the  Ameri- 
can War,  when  all  at  once  it  fell  calm;  execra- 
tion exchanged  itself  for  applause,  and  court 
popularity  sprung  up  like  a  mushroom  in  a 
night. 

To  account  for  this  sudden  transition,  it  is 
proper  to  observe,  that  there  are  two  distinct 
species  of  popularity;  the  one  excited  by  merit, 
the  other  by  resentment.  As  the  nation  had 
formed  itself  into  two  parties,  and  each  was  ex- 
tolling the  merits  of  its  parliamentary  cham- 
pions for  and  against  prerogative,  nothing  could 
operate  to  give  a  more  general  shock  than  an 
immediate  coalition  of  the  champions  themselves. 

The  partisans  of  each  being  thus  suddenly  left 

iv-15  169 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

in  the  lurch,  and  mutually  heated  with  disgust  at 
the  measure,  felt  no  other  relief  than  uniting  in  a 
common  execration  against  both.  A  higher 
stimulus  of  resentment  being  thus  excited,  than 
what  the  contest  of  prerogatives  had  occasioned, 
the  nation  quitted  all  former  objects  of  rights 
and  wrongs,  and  sought  only  that  of  gratifica- 
tion. 

The  indignation  at  the  coalition,  so  effectu- 
ally superseded  the  indignation  against  the 
Court,  as  to  extinguish  it;  and  without  any 
change  of  principles  on  the  part  of  the  Court, 
the  same  people  who  had  reprobated  its  despot- 
ism, united  with  it,  to  revenge  themselves  on  the 
Coalition  Parliament.  The  case  was  not,  which 
they  liked  best, — but,  which  they  hated  most; 
and  the  least  hated  passed  for  love.  The  dissolu- 
tion of  the  Coalition  Parliament,  as  it  afforded 
the  means  of  gratifying  the  resentment  of  the 
nation,  could  not  fail  to  be  popular;  and  from 
hence  arose  the  popularity  of  the  Court. 

Transitions  of  this  kind  exhibit  a  nation  under 
the  government  of  temper,  instead  of  a  fixed  and 
steady  principle,  and  having  once  committed 
itself,  however  rashly,  it  feels  itself  urged  along, 
to  justify  by  continuance  its  first  proceeding. 
Measures  which  at  other  times  it  would  censure, 
170 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

it  now  approves,  and  acts  persuasion  upon  itself 
to  suffocate  its  judgment. 

On  the  return  of  a  new  Parliament,  the  new 
Minister,  ]Mr.  Pitt,  found  himself  in  a  secure 
majority:  and  the  nation  gave  him  credit,  not 
out  of  regard  to  himself,  but  because  it  had  re- 
solved to  do  it  out  of  resentment  to  another.  He 
introduced  himself  to  public  notice  by  a  proposed 
reform  of  Parliament,  which  in  its  operation 
would  have  amounted  to  a  public  justification  of 
corruption.  The  nation  was  to  be  at  the  expense 
of  buying  up  the  rotten  boroughs,  whereas  it 
ought  to  punish  the  persons  who  deal  in  the 
traffic. 

Passing  over  the  two  bubbles,  of  the  Dutch 
business,  and  the  million  a  year  to  sink  the  na- 
tional debt,  the  matter  which  most  presents  itself, 
is  the  affair  of  the  Regency.  Never,  in  the 
course  of  my  observation,  was  delusion  more  suc- 
cessfully acted,  nor  a  nation  more  completely 
deceived.  But,  to  make  this  appear,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  go  over  the  circumstances. 

Mr.  Fox  had  stated  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, that  the  Prince  of  Wales,  as  heir  in  suc- 
cession, had  a  right  in  himself  to  assume  the  gov- 
ernment. This  was  opposed  by  Mr.  Pitt;  and, 
so  far  as  the  opposition  was  confined  to  the  doc- 

171 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

trine,  it  was  just.  But  the  principles  which  Mr. 
Pitt  maintained  on  the  contrary  side,  were  as 
bad,  or  worse  in  their  extent,  than  those  of  Mr. 
Fox;  because  they  went  to  estabhsh  an  aristoc- 
racy over  the  nation,  and  over  the  small  repre- 
sentation it  has  in  the  House  of  Commons. 

Whether  the  English  form  of  government 
be  good  or  bad,  is  not  in  this  case  the  question; 
but,  taking  it  as  it  stands,  without  regard  to  its 
merits  or  demerits,  Mr.  Pitt  was  farther  from 
the  point  than  Mr.  Fox. 

It  is  supposed  to  consist  of  three  parts ;  while, 
therefore,  the  nation  is  disposed  to  continue  this 
form,  the  parts  have  a  national  standings  inde- 
pendent of  each  other,  and  are  not  the  creatures 
of  each  other.  Had  Mr.  Fox  passed  through 
Parliament,  and  said  that  the  person  alluded  to 
claimed  on  the  ground  of  the  nation,  Mr.  Pitt 
must  then  have  contended  (what  he  called)  the 
right  of  the  Parliament,  against  the  right  of  the 
nation. 

By  the  appearance  which  the  contest  made, 
Mr.  Fox  took  the  hereditary  ground,  and  Mr. 
Pitt  the  parliamentary  ground;  but  the  fact  is, 
they  both  took  hereditary  ground,  and  Mr.  Pitt 
took  the  worst  of  the  two. 

What  is  called  the  Parliament  is  made  up  of 

172 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

two  Houses;  one  of  which  is  more  hereditary, 
and  more  beyond  the  control  of  the  nation,  than 
what  the  Crown  (as  it  is  called)  is  supposed  to 
be.  It  is  an  hereditary  aristocracy,  assuming 
and  asserting  indefeasible,  irrevocable  rights  and 
authority,  wholly  independent  of  the  nation. 
Where  then  was  the  merited  popularity  of  exalt- 
ing this  hereditary  power  over  another  hereditary 
power  less  independent  of  the  nation  than  what 
itself  assumed  to  be,  and  of  absorbing  the  rights 
of  the  nation  into  a  House  over  which  it  has 
neither  election  nor  control? 

The  general  impulse  of  the  nation  was  right ; 
but  it  acted  without  reflection.  It  approved  the 
opposition  made  to  the  right  set  up  by  INIr.  Fox, 
without  perceiving  that  Mr.  Pitt  was  supporting 
another  indefeasible  right,  more  remote  from  the 
nation,  in  opposition  to  it. 

With  respect  to  the  House  of  Commons,  it 
is  elected  but  by  a  small  part  of  the  nation;  but 
were  the  election  as  universal  as  taxation,  which 
it  ought  to  be,  it  would  still  be  only  the  organ  of 
the  nation,  and  cannot  possess  inherent  rights. 
When  the  National  Assembly  of  France  resolves 
a  matter,  the  resolve  is  made  in  right  of  the  na- 
tion; but  Mr.  Pitt,  on  all  national  questions,  so 
far  as  they  refer  to  the  House  of  Commons,  ab- 

173 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

sorbs  the  rights  of  the  nation  into  the  organ, 
and  makes  the  organ  into  a  nation,  and  the  nation 
itself  into  a  cipher. 

In  a  few  words,  the  question  on  the  Regency 
was  a  question  on  a  million  a  year,  which  is  ap- 
propriated to  the  executive  department ;  and  Mr. 
Pitt  could  not  possess  himself  of  any  manage- 
ment of  this  sum,  without  setting  up  the  suprem- 
acy of  Parliament;  and  when  this  was  accom- 
plished, it  was  indifferent  who  should  be  Regent, 
as  he  must  be  Regent  at  his  own  cost.  Among 
the  curiosities  which  this  contentious  debate 
afforded,  was  that  of  making  the  Great  Seal  into 
a  King;  the  affixing  of  which  to  an  act,  was  to 
be  royal  authority.  If,  therefore,  royal  authority 
is  a  great  seal,  it  consequently  is  in  itself  nothing ; 
and  a  good  constitution  would  be  of  infinitely 
more  value  to  the  nation,  than  what  the  three 
Nominal  Powers,  as  they  now  stand,  are  worth. 

The  continual  use  of  the  word  Constitution 
in  the  English  Parliament,  shows  there  is  none; 
and  that  the  whole  is  merely  a  form  of  govern- 
ment without  a  constitution,  and  constituting 
itself  with  what  power  it  pleases.  If  there  were 
a  constitution,  it  certainly  could  be  referred  to; 
and  the  debate  on  any  constitutional  point,  would 
terminate  by  producing  the  constitution.     One 

174 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

member  saj^s,  "this  is  constitution;"  and  another 
says,  "that  is  constitution."  To-day  it  is  one 
thing;  and  to-morrow,  it  is  something  else — 
while  the  maintaining  the  debate  proves  there  is 
none.  Constitution  is  now  the  cant  word  of  Par- 
liament, tuning  itself  to  the  ear  of  the  nation. 
Formerly  it  was  the  universal  supremacy  of  Par- 
liament— the  omnipotence  of  Parliament.  But 
since  the  progrQ,ss  of  liberty  in  France,  those 
phrases  have  a  despotic  harshness  in  their  note; 
and  the  English  Parliament  has  caught  the  fash- 
ion from  the  National  Assembly,  but  without 
the  substance,  of  speaking  of  a  Constitution. 

As  the  present  generation  of  people  in  Eng- 
land did  not  make  the  Government,  they  are  not 
accountable  for  its  defects;  but  that  sooner  or 
later  it  must  come  into  their  hands  to  undergo  a 
national  reformation,  is  as  certain  as  that  the 
same  thing  has  happened  in  France. 

If  France,  with  a  revenue  of  nearly  twenty- 
four  million  sterling,  with  an  extent  of  rich  and 
fertile  country  above  four  times  larger  than 
England,  with  a  population  of  twenty-four  mil- 
lions of  inhabitants  to  support  taxation,  with  up- 
wards of  ninety  millions  sterHng  of  gold  and  sil- 
ver circulating  in  the  nation,  and  with  a  debt  less 
than  the  present  debt  of  England — still  found 

175 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

it  necessary,  from  whatever  cause,  to  come  to  a 
settlement  of  its  affairs,  it  solves  the  problem  of 
funding  for  both  countries. 

It  is  out  of  the  question  to  say  how  long  what 
is  called  the  Enghsh  Constitution  has  lasted,  and 
to  argue  from  thence  how  long  it  is  to  last;  the 
question  is,  how  long  can  the  funding  system 
last?  It  is  a  thing  but  of  modern  invention,  and 
has  not  yet  continued  beyond  the  hfe  of  a  man; 
yet  in  that  short  space  it  has  so  far  accumulated, 
that,  together  with  the  current  expenses,  it  re- 
quires an  amount  of  taxes  at  least  equal  to  the 
whole  landed  rental  of  the  nation  in  acres,  to  de- 
fray the  annual  expenditure.  That  a  govern- 
ment could  not  always  have  gone  on  by  the  same 
system  which  has  been  followed  for  the  last  sev- 
enty years,  must  be  evident  to  every  man;  and 
for  the  same  reason  it  cannot  always  go  on. 

The  funding  system  is  not  money;  neither  is 
it,  properly  speaking,  credit.  It  in  effect  creates 
upon  paper  the  sum  which  it  appears  to  borrow, 
and  lays  on  a  tax  to  keep  the  imaginary  capital 
alive  by  the  payment  of  interest,  and  sends  the 
annuity  to  market,  to  be  sold  for  paper  already 
in  circulation.  If  any  credit  is  given,  it  is  to  the 
disposition  of  the  people  to  pay  the  tax,  and  not 
to  the  government  which  lays  it  on.    When  this 

1T6 


^WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

disposition  expires,  what  is  supposed  to  be  the 
credit  of  government  expires  with  it.  The  in- 
stance of  France  under  the  former  Government, 
shows  that  it  is  impossible  to  compel  the  pay- 
ment of  taxes  by  force,  when  a  whole  nation  is 
determined  to  take  its  stand  upon  that  ground. 

Mr.  Burke,  in  his  review  of  the  finances  of 
France,  states  the  quantity  of  gold  and  silver  in 
France,  at  about  eighty-eight  millions  sterhng. 
In  doing  this,  he  has,  I  presume,  divided  by  the 
difference  of  exchange,  instead  of  the  standard 
of  twenty-four  livres  to  a  pound  sterling ;  for  M. 
Necker's  statement,  from  which  Mr.  Burke's  is 
taken,  is  two  thousand  two  hundred  millions  of 
livreSj  which  is  upwards  of  ninety-one  millions 
and  a  half  sterling. 

M.  Necker  in  France,  and  Mr.  George  Chal- 
mers of  the  Office  of  Trade  and  Plantation  in 
England,  of  which  Lord  Hawkesbury  is  presi- 
dent, published  nearly  about  the  same  time 
(1786)  an  account  of  the  quantity  of  money  in 
each  nation,  from  the  returns  of  the  mint  of  each 
nation.  Mr.  Chalmers,  from  the  returns  of  the 
English  Mint  at  the  Tower  of  London,  states 
the  quantity  of  money  in  England,  including 
Scotland  and  Ireland,  to  be  twenty  miUions 
sterling. 

177 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

M.  Necker*  says,  that  the  amount  of  money; 
in  France,  recoined  from  the  old  coin  which  was 
called  in,  was  two  thousand  and  five  hundred 
millions  of  livres,  (upwards  of  one  hundred  and 
four  millions  sterling)  ;  and,  after  deducting  for 
waste,  and  what  may  be  in  the  West  Indies,  and 
other  possible  circumstances,  states  the  circula- 
tion quantity  at  home,  to  be  ninety-one  millions 
and  a  half  sterling;  but,  taking  it  as  Mr.  Burke 
has  put  it,  it  is  sixty-eight  millions  more  than 
the  national  quantity  in  England. 

That  the  quantity  of  money  in  France  cannot 
be  under  this  sum,  may  at  once  be  seen  from  the 
state  of  the  French  revenue,  without  referring  to 
the  records  of  the  French  JMint  for  proofs.  The 
revenue  of  France  prior  to  the  Revolution,  was 
nearly  twenty-four  millions  sterling;  and  as 
paper  had  then  no  existence  in  France,  the  whole 
revenue  was  collected  upon  gold  and  silver;  and 
it  would  have  been  impossible  to  have  collected 
such  a  quantity  of  revenue  upon  a  less  national 
quantity  than  M.  Necker  has  stated. 

Before  the  establishment  of  paper  in  Eng- 
land, the  revenue  was  about  a  fourth  part  of 
the  national  amount  of  gold  and  silver,  as  may 

•  See  "  Administration  of  the  Finances  of  France,"  Vol.  III.  by 
M.  Necker. 

178 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

be  known  by  referring  to  the  revenue  prior  to 
King  William,  and  the  quantity  of  money  stated 
to  be  in  the  nation  at  that  time,  which  was  nearly 
as  much  as  it  is  now. 

It  can  be  of  no  real  service  to  a  nation,  to 
impose  upon  itself,  or  to  permit  itself  to  be  im- 
posed upon;  but  the  prejudices  of  some,  and  the 
imposition  of  others,  have  always  represented 
France  as  a  nation  possessing  but  little  money, 
whereas  the  quantity  is  not  only  more  than  four 
times  what  the  quantity  is  in  England,  but  is 
considerably  greater  on  a  proportion  of  numbers. 

To  account  for  this  deficiency  on  the  part 
of  England,  some  reference  should  be  had  to  the 
English  system  of  funding.  It  operates  to  mul- 
tiply paper  and  to  substitute  it  in  the  room  of 
money,  in  various  shapes;  and  the  more  paper  is 
multiplied,  the  more  opportunities  are  afforded 
to  export  the  specie;  and  it  admits  of  a  possi- 
bihty  (by  extending  it  to  small  notes)  of  increas- 
ing paper  till  there  is  no  money  left. 

I  know  this  is  not  a  j)leasant  subject  to  Eng- 
lish readers ;  but  the  matters  I  am  going  to  men- 
tion, are  so  important  in  themselves,  as  to  require 
the  attention  of  men  interested  in  money-trans- 
actions of  a  public  nature.  There  is  a  circum- 
stance stated  by  M.  Necker,  in  his  treatise  on  the 

179 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

administration  of  the  finances,  which  has  never 
been  attended  to  in  England,  but  which  forms 
the  only  basis  whereon  to  estimate  the  quantity 
of  money  (gold  and  silver)  which  ought  to  be 
in  every  nation  in  Europe,  to  preserve  a  relative 
proportion  with  other  nations. 

Lisbon  and  Cadiz  are  the  ports  into  which 
(money)  gold  and  silver  from  South  America 
are  imported,  and  which  afterwards  divides  and 
spreads  itself  over  Europe  by  means  of  com- 
merce, and  increases  the  quantity  of  money  in  all 
parts  of  Europe.  If,  therefore,  the  amount  of 
the  annual  importation  into  Europe  can  be 
known,  and  the  relative  proportion  of  the  for- 
eign commerce  of  the  several  nations  by  which 
it  is  distributed  can  be  ascertained,  they  give  a 
rule,  sufficiently  true,  to  ascertain  the  quantity  of 
money  which  ought  to  be  found  in  any  nation,  at 
any  given  time. 

M.  Necker  shows  from  the  registers  of  Lis- 
bon and  Cadiz,  that  the  importation  of  gold  and 
silver  into  Europe,  is  five  millions  sterling  annu- 
ally. He  has  not  taken  it  on  a  single  year,  but  on 
an  average  of  fifteen  succeeding  years,  from 
1763  to  1777,  both  inclusive;  in  which  time,  the 
amount  was  one  thousand  eight  hundred  million 
livres,  in  which  is  seventy-five  millions  sterling 

180 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

From  the  commencement  of  the  Hanover 
Succession  in  1714,  to  the  time  Mr.  Chalmers 
published,  is  seventy-two  years ;  and  the  quantity 
imported  into  Europe,  in  that  time,  would  be 
three  hundred  and  sixty  millions  sterling. 

If  the  foreign  commerce  of  Great  Britain  be 
stated  at  a  sixth  part  of  what  the  whole  foreign 
commerce  of  Europe  amounts  to,  (which  is  prob- 
ably an  inferior  estimation  to  what  the  gentle- 
men at  the  Exchange  would  allow),  the  propor- 
tion which  Britain  should  draw  by  commerce  of 
this  sum,  to  keep  herself  on  a  proportion  with  the 
rest  of  Europe,  would  be  also  a  sixth  part,  which 
is  sixty  millions  sterling;  and  if  the  same  allow- 
ance for  waste  and  accident  be  made  for  Eng- 
land which  M.  Necker  makes  for  France,  the 
quantity  remaining  after  these  deductions  would 
be  fifty-two  millions.  This  sum  ought  to  have 
been  in  the  nation  (at  the  time  Mr.  Chalmers 
published)  in  addition  to  the  sum  which  was  in 
the  nation  at  the  commencement  of  the  Hanover 
Succession,  and  to  have  made  in  the  whole  at 
least  sixty-six  millions  sterling ;  instead  of  which, 
there  were  but  twenty  millions,  which  is  forty- 
six  millions  below  its  proportionate  quantity. 

As  the  quantity  of  gold  and  silver  imported 
into  Lisbon  and  Cadiz  is  more  exactly  ascertained 

181 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

than  that  of  any  commodity  imported  into  Eng- 
land, and  as  the  quantity  of  money  coined  at  the 
Tower  of  London  is  still  more  positively  known, 
the  leading  facts  do  not  admit  of  controversy. 
Either,  therefore,  the  commerce  of  England  is 
unproductive  of  profit,  or  the  gold  and  silver 
which  it  brings  in,  leak  continually  away  by  un- 
seen means,  at  the  average  rate  of  about  three- 
quarters  of  a  million  a  year,  which,  in  the  course 
of  seventy-two  years,  accounts  for  the  deficiency ; 
and  its  absence  is  supplied  by  paper.* 

*Whether  the  English  commerce  does  not  bring  in  money,  or 
whether  the  Government  sends  it  out  after  it  is  brought  in,  is  a 
matter  which  the  parties  concerned  can  best  explain;  but  that  the 
deficiency  exists,  is  not  in  the  power  of  either  to  disprove.  While 
Dr.  Price,  Mr.  Eden  (now  Auckland),  Mr.  Chalmers,  and  others, 
were  debating  whether  the  quantity  of  money  was  greater 
or  less  than  at  the  Revolution,  the  circumstance  was  not  adverted 
to,  that  since  the  Revolution,  there  cannot  have  been  less  than 
four  hundred  millions  sterling  imported  into  Europe;  and  there- 
fore, the  quantity  in  England  ought  at  least  to  have  been  four 
times  greater  than  it  was  at  the  Revolution,  to  be  on  a  proportion 
with  Europe. 

What  England  is  now  doing  by  paper,  is  what  she  should 
have  been  able  to  do  by  solid  money,  if  gold  and  silver 
had  come  into  the  nation  in  the  proportion  it  ought,  or  had  not 
been  sent  out;  and  she  is  endeavoring  to  restore  by  paper,  the 
balance  she  has  lost  by  money.  It  is  certain,  that  the  gold  and 
silver  which  arrive  annually  in  the  register-ships  to  Spain  and 
Portugal,  do  not  remain  in  those  coimtries.  Taking  the  value  half 
in  gold  and  half  in  silver,  it  is  about  four  hundred  tons  annually; 
and  from  the  number  of  ships  and  galloons  employed  in  the  trade 
of  bringing  those  metals  from  South  America  to  Portugal  and 
Spain,  the  quantity  sufficiently  proves  itself,  without  referring  to 
the  registers. 

In  the   situation   England   now   is,  it  is  impossible   she   can 

182 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

The  Revolution  of  France  is  attended  with 
many  novel  circumstances,  not  only  in  the  politi- 
cal sphere,  but  in  the  circle  of  money  transac- 
tions. Among  others,  it  shows  that  a  govern- 
ment may  be  in  a  state  of  insolvency,  and  a 
nation  rich.  So  far  as  the  fact  is  confined  to  the 
late  Government  of  France,  it  was  insolvent; 

increase  in  money.  High  taxes  not  only  lessen  the  property  of 
the  individuals,  but  they  lessen  also  the  money-capital  of  a  nation, 
by  inducing  smuggling,  which  can  only  be  carried  on  by  gold  and 
silver.  By  the  politics  which  the  British  Government  have  car- 
ried on  with  the  inland  powers  of  Germany  and  the  Continent,  it 
has  made  an  enemy  of  all  the  maritime  powers,  and  is  therefore 
obliged  to  keep  up  a  large  navy;  but  though  the  navy  is  built 
in  England,  the  naval  stores  must  be  purchased  from  abroad,  and 
that  from  countries  where  the  greatest  part  must  be  paid  for 
in  gold  and  silver. 

Some  fallacious  rumors  have  been  set  ailoat  in  England  to 
induce  a  belief  of  money,  and,  among  others,  that  of  the  French 
refugees  bringing  great  quantities.  The  idea  is  ridiculous.  The 
general  part  of  the  money  in  France  is  silver;  and  it  would  take 
upward  of  twenty  of  the  largest  broad-wheel  wagons,  with  ten 
horses  each,  to  remove  one  million  sterling  of  silver.  Is  it  then 
to  be  supposed,  that  a  few  people  fleeing  on  horse-back,  or  in 
post-chaises,  in  a  secret  manner,  and  having  the  French  custom 
house  to  pass,  and  the  sea  to  cross,  could  bring  even  a  sufficiency 
for  their  own  expenses? 

When  millions  of  money  are  spoken  of,  it  should  be  recollected, 
that  such  sums  can  only  accumulate  in  a  country  by  slow  degrees, 
and  a  long  procession  of  time.  The  most  frugal  system  that  Eng- 
land could  now  adopt,  would  not  recover,  in  a  century,  the  balance 
she  has  lost  in  money  since  the  commencement  of  the  Hanover 
Succession.  She  is  seventy  millions  behind  France,  and  she  must 
be  in  some  considerable  proportion  behind  every  country  in 
Europe,  because  the  returns  of  the  English  Mint  do  not  show  an 
increase  of  money,  while  the  registers  of  Lisbon  and  Cadiz  show 
an  European  increase  of  between  three  and  four  hundred  millions 
sterling. 

183 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

because  the  nation  would  no  longer  support  Its 
extravagance,  and  therefore  it  could  no  longer 
support  itself;  but  with  respect  to  the  nation, 
air  the  means  existed.  A  government  may  be 
said  to  be  insolvent,  every  time  it  applies  to  a 
nation  to  discharge  its  arrears.  The  insolvency 
of  the  late  Government  of  France,  and  the  pres- 
ent Government  of  England,  differed  in  no 
other  respect  than  as  the  disposition  of  the  people 
differ.  The  people  of  France  refused  their  aid 
to  the  old  Government;  and  the  people  of  Eng- 
land submit  to  taxation  without  inquiry.  Wliat 
is  called  the  Crown  in  England,  has  been  insol- 
vent several  times;  the  last  of  which,  publicly 
known,  was  in  May,  1777,  when  it  applied  to  the 
nation  to  discharge  upwards  of  £600,000,  pri- 
vate debts,  which  otherwise  it  could  not  pay. 

It  was  the  error  of  Mr.  Pitt,  Mr.  Burke, 
and  all  those  who  were  unacquainted  with  the 
affairs  of  France,  to  confound  the  French  na- 
tion with  the  French  Government.  The  French 
nation,  in  effect,  endeavored  to  render  the  late 
Government  insolvent,  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
government  into  its  own  hands;  and  it  reserved 
its  means  for  the  support  of  the  new  Govern- 
ment. In  a  country  of  such  vast  extent  and  pop- 
ulation as  France,  the  natural  means  cannot  be 
184i 


iWRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

wanting;  and  the  political  means  appear  the  in- 
stant the  nation  is  disposed  to  permit  them. 

When  ]Mr.  Burke,  in  a  speech  last  winter  in 
the  British  Parliament,  cast  his  eyes  over  the  map 
of  Europe,  and  saw  the  chasm  that  once  was 
France,  he  talked  like  a  dreamer  of  dreams.  The 
same  natural  France  existed  as  before,  and  all 
the  natural  means  existed  with  it.  The  only- 
chasm  was  that  which  the  extinction  of  despotism 
had  left,  and  which  was  to  be  filled  up  with  a 
constitution  more  formidable  in  resources  than 
the  power  which  had  expired. 

Although  the  French  nation  rendered  the 
late  Government  insolvent,  it  did  not  permit  the 
insolvency  to  act  toward  the  creditors;  and  the 
creditors  considering  the  nation  as  the  real  pay- 
master, and  the  Government  only  as  the  agent, 
rested  themselves  on  the  nation,  in  preference 
to  the  Government. 

This  api^ears  greatly  to  disturb  Mr.  Burke, 
as  the  precedent  is  fatal  to  the  policy  by  which 
governments  have  supposed  themselves  secure. 
They  have  contracted  debts,  with  a  view  of  at- 
taching what  is  called  the  monied  interest  of  a 
nation  to  their  support;  but  the  example  in 
France  shows,  that  the  permanent  security  of 
the  creditor  is  in  the  nation,  and  not  in  the  gov- 

iv-16  185 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

ernment;  and  that  in  all  possible  revolutions  that 
may  happen  in  governments,  the  means  are 
always  with  the  nation,  and  the  nation  always  in 
existence.  JNIr.  Burke  argues,  that  the  creditors 
ought  to  have  abided  the  fate  of  the  Govern- 
ment which  they  trusted;  but  the  National  As- 
sembly considered  them  as  the  creditors  of  the 
nation,  and  not  of  the  Government — of  the  mas- 
ter, and  not  of  the  steward. 

Notwithstanding  the  late  Government  could 
not  discharge  the  current  expenses,  the  present 
Government  has  paid  off  a  great  part  of  the 
capital.  This  has  been  accomplished  by  two 
means ;  the  one  by  lessening  the  expenses  of  gov- 
ernment, and  the  other  by  the  sale  of  the  monastic 
and  ecclesiastical  landed  estates.  The  devotees 
and  penitent  debauchees,  extortioners  and  misers 
of  former  days,  to  ensure  themselves  of  a  better 
world  than  that  which  they  were  about  to  leave, 
had  bequeathed  immense  property  in  trust  to  the 
priesthood,  for  pious  uses;  and  the  priesthood 
kept  it  for  themselves.  The  National  Assembly 
has  ordered  it  to  be  sold  for  the  good  of  the 
whole  nation,  and  the  priesthood  to  be  decently 
provided  for. 

In  consequence  of  the  Revolution,  the  annual 
interest  of  the  debt  of  France  will  be  reduced  at 

186 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

least  six  millions  sterling,  by  paying  off  upwards 
of  one  hundi-ed  millions  of  the  capital;  which, 
with  lessening  the  former  expenses  of  govern- 
ment at  least  three  millions,  will  place  France  in 
a  situation  worthy  the  imitation  of  Europe. 

Upon  a  whole  review  of  the  subject,  how  vast 
is  the  contrast?  While  ]Mr.  Burke  has  been  talk- 
ing of  a  general  bankruptcy  in  France,  the  Na- 
tional Assembly  has  been  paying  off  the  capital 
of  its  debt ;  and  while  taxes  have  increased  nearly 
a  million  a  year  in  England,  they  have  lowered 
several  millions  a  year  in  France.  Not  a  word 
has  either  Mr.  Burke  or  Mr.  Pitt  said  about 
French  affairs,  or  the  state  of  the  French 
finances,  in  the  present  session  of  Parliament. 
The  subject  begins  to  be  too  well  understood, 
and  imposition  serves  no  longer. 

There  is  a  general  enigma  running  through 
the  whole  of  ^Ir.  Burke's  book.  He  writes  in  a 
rage  against  the  National  Assembly;  but  what 
is  he  enraged  about?  If  his  assertions  were  as 
true  as  they  are  groundless,  and  that  France,  by 
her  Revolution,  had  annihilated  her  power,  and 
become  what  he  calls  a  chasm,  it  might  excite  the 
grief  of  a  Frenchman  (considering  himself  as  a 
national  man),  and  provoke  his  rage  against  the 

187 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

National  Assembly;  but  why  should  it  excite  the 
rage  of  Mr.  Burke? 

Alas!  it  is  not  the  nation  of  France  that  Mr. 
Burke  means,  but  the  Court;  and  every  court  in 
Europe,  dreading  the  same  fate,  is  in  mourning. 
He  writes  neither  in  the  character  of  a  French- 
man nor  an  Englishman,  but  in  the  fawning 
character  of  that  creature  known  in  all  countries, 
and  a  friend  to  none,  a  Courtier.  Whether  it  be 
the  Court  of  Versailles,  or  the  Court  of  St.  James 
or  Carlton-House,  or  the  Court  in  expectation, 
signifies  not;  for  the  caterpillar  principles  of  all 
courts  and  courtiers  are  alike.  They  form  a 
common  policy  throughout  Europe,  detached  and 
separate  from  the  interest  of  nations:  and  while 
they  appear  to  quarrel,  they  agree  to  plunder. 
Nothing  can  be  more  terrible  to  a  court  or  a 
courtier,  than  the  Revolution  of  France.  That 
which  is  a  blessing  to  nations,  is  bitterness  to 
them;  and  as  their  existence  depends  on  the  du- 
plicity of  a  country,  they  tremble  at  the  approach 
of  principles,  and  dread  the  precedent  that  threat- 
ens their  overthrow. 


188 


CONCLUSION 


REASON  and  Ignorance,  the  opposites  of 
each  other,  influence  the  great  bulk  of 
mankind.  If  either  of  these  can  be  rendered  suf- 
ficiently extensive  in  a  country,  the  machinery  of 
government  goes  easily  on.  Reason  obeys  itself ; 
and  Ignorance  submits  to  whatever  is  dictated 
to  it. 

The  two  modes  of  government  which  prevail 
in  the  world,  Sive,  Firsts  government  by  election 
and  representation:  Secondly,  government  by 
hereditary  succession.  The  former  is  generally 
known  by  the  name  of  republic;  the  latter  by 
that  of  monarchy  and  aristocracy. 

Those  two  distinct  and  opposite  forms,  erect 
themselves  on  the  two  distinct  and  opposite  bases 
of  Reason  and  Ignorance.  As  the  exercise  of 
government  requires  talents  and  abilities,  and  as 
talents  and  abilities  cannot  have  hereditary  de- 
scent, it  is  evident  that  hereditary  succession  re- 
quires a  belief  from  man,  to  which  liis  reason  can- 
not subscribe,  and  which  can  only  be  established 
upon  his  ignorance;  and  the  more  ignorant  any 
country  is,  the  better  it  is  fitted  for  this  species 
of  government. 

18d 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

On  the  contrary,  government  in  a  well  con- 
stituted republic,  requires  no  belief  from  man 
beyond  v/hat  his  reason  can  give.  He  sees  the 
rationale  of  the  whole  system,  its  origin  and  its 
operation;  and  as  it  is  best  supported  when  best 
understood,  the  human  faculties  act  with  bold- 
ness, and  acquire,  under  this  form  of  govern- 
ment, a  gigantic  manliness. 

As,  therefore,  each  of  those  forms  acts  on  a 
different  base,  the  one  moving  freely  by  the 
aid  of  reason,  the  other  by  ignorance;  we  have 
next  to  consider,  what  it  is  that  gives  motion  to 
that  species  of  government  which  is  called  mixed 
government,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  ludicrously 
styled,  a  government  of  this,  that,  and  t'other. 

The  moving  power  of  this  species  of  govern- 
ment, is  of  necessity,  corruption.  However  im- 
perfect election  and  representation  may  be  in 
mixed  governments,  they  still  give  exercise  to  a 
greater  portion  of  reason  than  is  convenient  to 
the  hereditary  part ;  and  therefore  it  becomes  nec- 
essary to  buy  the  reason  up.  A  mixed  govern- 
ment is  an  imperfect  everything,  cementing  and 
soldering  the  discordant  parts  together  by  cor- 
ruption, to  act  as  a  whole.  Mr.  Burke  appears 
higlily  disgusted,  that  France,  since  she  had  re- 
solved on  a  revolution,  did  not  adopt  what  he 
190 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

calls,  "A  British  Constitution/^  and  the  regretful 
manner  in  which  he  expresses  himself  on  this  oc- 
casion, implies  a  suspicion,  that  the  British  Con- 
stitution needed  something  to  keep  its  defects  in 
countenance. 

In  mixed  governments  there  is  no  responsibil- 
ity: the  parts  cover  each  other  till  responsibility 
is  lost;  and  the  corruption  which  moves  the  ma- 
chine, contrives  at  the  same  time  its  own  escape. 
When  it  is  laid  down  as  a  maxim,  that  a  king  can 
do  no  wrong,  it  places  him  in  a  state  of  similar 
security  with  that  of  idiots  and  persons  insane, 
and  responsibility  is  out  of  the  question  with  re- 
spect to  himself.  It  then  descends  upon  the  min- 
ister, who  shelters  himself  under  a  majority  in 
Parliament,  which,  by  places,  pensions,  and  cor- 
ruption, he  can  always  command;  and  that  ma- 
jority justifies  itself  by  the  same  authority  with 
which  it  protects  the  minister.  In  this  rotary 
motion,  responsibility  is  thrown  off  from  the 
parts,  and  from  the  whole. 

When  there  is  a  part  in  a  government  which 
can  do  no  wrong,  it  implies  that  it  does  nothing; 
and  is  only  the  machine  of  another  power,  by 
whose  advice  and  direction  it  acts.  What  is  sup- 
posed to  be  the  king  in  mixed  governments  is 
the  cabinet;  and  as  the  cabinet  is  always  a  part 

191 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

of  the  parliament,  and  the  members  justifying 
in  one  character  what  they  advise  and  act  in  an- 
other, a  mixed  government  becomes  a  continual 
enigma;  entaiHng  upon  a  country,  by  the  quan- 
tity of  corruption  necessary  to  solder  the  parts, 
the  expense  of  supporting  all  the  forms  of  gov- 
ernment at  once,  and  finally  resolving  itself  into 
a  government  by  committee;  in  which  the  ad- 
visers, the  actors,  the  approvers,  the  justifiers,  the 
persons  responsible,  and  the  persons  not  respon- 
sible, are  the  same  persons. 

By  this  pantomimical  contrivance,  and 
change  of  scene  and  character,  the  parts  help  each 
other  out  in  matters  which  neither  of  them  singly 
would  assume  to  act.  When  money  is  to  be  ob- 
tained, the  mass  of  variety  apparently  dissolves, 
and  a  profusion  of  parliamentary  praises  passes 
between  the  parts.  Each  admires  with  astonish- 
ment, the  wisdom,  the  liberality,  the  disinterest- 
edness of  the  other;  and  all  of  them  breathe  a 
pitying  sigh  at  the  burdens  of  the  nation. 

But  in  a  well  constituted  republic,  nothing  of 
this  soldering,  praising,  and  pitying,  can  take 
place ;  the  representation  being  equal  throughout 
the  country,  and  complete  in  itself,  however  it 
may  be  arranged  into  legislative  and  executive, 
they  have  all  one  and  the  same  natural  source. 

192 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

The  parts  are  not  foreigners  to  each  other,  hke 
democracy,  aristocrac}^  and  monarchj^  As  there 
are  no  discordant  distinctions,  there  is  nothing  to 
corrupt  by  compromise,  nor  confound  by  con- 
trivance. 

PubHc  measures  appeal  of  themselves  to  the 
understanding  of  the  nation,  and,  resting  on  their 
own  merits,  disown  any  flattering  application  to 
vanity.  The  continual  whine  of  lamenting  the 
burden  of  taxes,  however  successfully  it  may  be 
practised  in  mixed  governments,  is  inconsistent 
with  the  sense  and  spirit  of  a  republic.  If  taxes 
are  necessary,  they  are  of  course  advantageous; 
but  if  they  require  an  apology,  the  aj)ology  itself 
implies  an  impeachment.  Why  then  is  man  thus 
imposed  upon,  or  why  does  he  impose  upon  him- 
self? 

When  men  are  spoken  of  as  kings  and  sub- 
jects, or  when  government  is  mentioned  under 
the  distinct  or  combined  heads  of  monarchy,  aris- 
tocracy, and  democracy,  what  is  it  that  reasoning 
man  is  to  understand  by  the  terms?  If  there 
really  existed  in  the  world  two  or  more  distinct 
and  separate  elements  of  human  power,  we 
should  then  see  the  several  origins  to  which  those 
terms  would  descriptively  apply;  but  as  there  is 
but  one  species  of  man,  there  can  be  but  one  ele- 

193 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

ment  of  human  power,  and  that  element  is  man 
himself.  JNIonarchy,  aristocracy,  and  democracy, 
are  but  creatures  of  imagination ;  and  a  thousand 
such  may  be  contrived,  as  well  as  three. 

From  the  revolutions  of  America  and  France, 
and  the  symptoms  that  have  appeared  in  other 
countries,  it  is  evident  that  the  opinion  of  the 
world  is  changed  with  respect  to  systems  of  gov- 
ernment, and  that  revolutions  are  not  within  the 
compass  of  political  calculations.  The  progress 
of  time  and  circumstances,  which  men  assign 
to  the  accomplishment  of  great  changes,  is  too 
mechanical  to  measure  the  force  of  the  mind, 
and  the  rapidity  of  reflection,  by  which  revolu- 
tions are  generated.  All  the  old  governments 
have  received  a  shock  from  those  that  already 
appear,  and  which  were  once  more  improbable, 
and  are  a  greater  subject  of  wonder,  than  a  gen- 
eral revolution  in  Europe  would  be  now. 

When  we  survey  the  wretched  condition  of 
man  under  the  monarchical  and  hereditary  sys- 
tems of  government,  dragged  from  his  home  by 
one  power,  or  driven  by  another,  and  impover- 
ished by  taxes  more  than  by  enemies,  it  becomes 
evident  that  those  systems  are  bad,  and  that  a 
general  revolution  in  the  principle  and  construc- 
tion of  governments  is  necessary. 
194 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

What  is  government  more  than  the  manage- 
ment of  the  affairs  of  a  nation?  It  is  not,  and 
from  its  nature  cannot  be,  the  property  of  any 
particular  man  or  family,  but  of  the  whole  com- 
munity, at  whose  expense  it  is  supported;  and 
though  bj''  force  or  contrivance  it  has  been 
usurped  into  an  inheritance,  the  usurpation  can- 
not alter  the  right  of  things.  Sovereignty,  as  a 
matter  of  right,  appertains  to  the  nation  only, 
and  not  to  any  individual;  and  a  nation  has  at 
all  times  an  inherent  indefeasible  right  to  abolish 
any  form  of  government  it  finds  inconvenient, 
and  establish  such  as  accords  with  its  interest,  dis- 
position, and  happiness.  The  romantic  and  bar- 
barous distinction  of  [making]  men  into  kings 
and  subjects,  though  it  may  suit  the  condition  of 
courtiers,  cannot  that  of  citizens ;  and  is  exploded 
by  the  principle  upon  which  governments  are 
now  founded.  Every  citizen  is  a  member  of  the 
sovereignty,  and,  as  such,  can  acknowledge  no 
personal  subjection;  and  his  obedience  can  be 
only  to  the  laws. 

When  men  think  of  what  government  is,  tliey 
must  necessarily  suppose  it  to  possess  a  knowl- 
edge of  all  the  objects  and  matters  upon  which 
its  authority  is  to  be  exercised.  In  this  view  of 
government  the  republican  system,  as  established 

195 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

by  America  and  France,  operates  to  embrace  the 
whole  of  a  nation;  and  the  knowledge  necessary 
to  the  interest  of  all  the  parts,  is  to  be  found  in 
the  center  which  the  parts  by  representation 
form.  But  the  old  governments  are  on  a  con- 
struction that  excludes  knowledge  as  well  as  hap- 
piness ;  government  by  monks,  who  know  nothing 
of  the  world  beyond  the  walls  of  a  convent,  is  as 
consistent  as  government  by  kings. 

What  were  formerly  called  revolutions,  were 
little  more  than  a  change  of  persons,  or  an  alter- 
ation of  local  circumstances.  They  rose  and  fell 
like  things  of  course,  and  had  nothing  in  their 
existence  or  their  fate  that  could  influence  beyond 
the  spot  that  produced  them.  But  what  we  now 
see  in  the  world,  from  the  revolutions  of  Amer- 
ica and  France,  is  a  renovation  of  the  natural 
order  of  things,  a  system  of  principles  as  univer- 
sal as  truth  and  the  existence  of  man,  and  com- 
bining moral  with  political  happiness  and  na- 
tional prosperity. 

"L  Men  are  horn  and  always  continue  free 
and  equal  in  respect  to  their  rights.  Civil  dis- 
tinctions, therefore,  can  he  founded  only  on  puh- 
lic  utility. 

"II.  The  end  of  all  political  associations  is  the 
preservation  of  the  natural  and  imprescriptible 
196 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

rights  of  man;  and  these  rights  are  liberty j  prop- 
erty ^  security,  and  resistance  of  oppression. 

"III.  The  Nation  is  essentially  the  source  of 
all  Sovereignty;  nor  can  any  individual  or  any 
body  of  men,  be  entitled  to  any  authority  which 
is  not  expressly  derived  from  it/* 

In  these  principles,  there  is  nothing  to  throw 
a  nation  into  confusion  by  inflaming  ambition. 
They  are  calculated  to  call  forth  wisdom  and 
abilities,  and  to  exercise  them  for  the  public  good, 
and  not  for  the  emolument  or  aggrandizement  of 
particular  descriptions  of  men  or  families. 
Monarchial  sovereignty,  the  enemj'-  of  mankind, 
and  the  source  of  misery,  is  abolished ;  and  sover- 
eignty itself  is  restored  to  its  natural  and  orig- 
inal place,  the  nation.  Were  this  the  case 
throughout  Europe,  the  cause  of  wars  would  be 
taken  away. 

It  is  attributed  to  Henry  IV  of  France,  a 
man  of  an  enlarged  and  benevolent  heart,  that 
he  proposed,  about  the  year  1610,  a  plan  of  abol- 
ishing war  in  Europe.  The  plan  consisted  in 
constituting  an  European  Congress,  or  as  the 
French  authors  style  it,  a  Pacific  Rei^ublic;  by 
appointing  delegates  from  the  several  nations, 
who  were  to  act  as  a  court  of  arbitration  in  any 
disputes  that  might  arise  between  nation  and 

197 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

nation.  Had  such  a  plan  been  adopted  at  the 
time  it  was  proposed,  the  taxes  of  England  and 
France,  as  two  of  the  parties,  would  have  been  at 
least  ten  millions  sterHng  annually  to  each  nation 
less  than  they  were  at  the  commencement  of  the 
French  Revolution. 

To  conceive  a  cause  why  such  a  plan  has  not 
been  adopted,  (and  that  instead  of  a  congress  for 
the  purpose  of  preventing  war,  it  has  been  called 
only  to  terminate  sl  war,  after  fruitless  expense  of 
several  years) ,  it  will  be  necessary  to  consider  the 
interest  of  governments  as  a  distinct  interest  to 
that  of  nations. 

Whatever  is  the  cause  of  taxes  to  a  nation, 
becomes  also  the  means  of  revenue  to  a  govern- 
ment. Every  war  terminates  with  an  addition  of 
taxes,  and  consequently  with  an  addition  of  rev- 
enue; and  in  any  event  of  war,  in  the  manner 
they  are  now  commenced  and  concluded,  the 
power  and  interest  of  governments  are  increased. 

War,  therefore,  from  its  productiveness,  as  it 
easily  furnishes  the  pretence  of  necessity  for 
taxes  and  appointments  to  places  and  offices,  be- 
comes a  principal  part  of  the  system  of  old  gov- 
ernments; and  to  establish  any  mode  to  abolish 
war,  however  advantageous  it  might  be  to  na- 
tions, would  be  to  take  from  such  government 
>198 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

the  most  lucrative  of  its  branches.  The  frivolous 
matters  upon  which  war  is  made,  show  the  dis- 
position and  avidity  of  governments  to  uphold 
the  sj^stem  of  war,  and  betray  the  motives  upon 
which  they  act. 

Why  are  not  republics  plunged  into  war,  but 
because  the  nature  of  their  government  does  not 
admit  of  an  interest  distinct  from  that  of  the  na- 
tion? Even  Holland,  though  an  ill-constructed 
republic,  and  with  a  commerce  extending  over 
the  world,  existed  nearly  a  century  without  war: 
and  the  instant  the  form  of  government  was 
changed  in  France,  the  republican  principles  of 
peace  and  domestic  prosperity  and  economy  arose 
with  the  new  Government;  and  the  same  conse- 
quences would  follow  the  same  causes  in  other 
nations. 

As  war  is  the  system  of  government  on  the 
old  construction,  the  animosity  which  nations  re- 
ciprocally entertain,  is  nothing  more  than  what 
the  policy  of  their  governments  excites,  to  keep 
up  the  spirit  of  the  system.  Each  government 
accuses  the  other  of  perfidy,  intrigue,  and  am- 
bition, as  a  means  of  heating  the  imagination  of 
their  respective  nations,  and  increasing  them  to 
hostilities.  Man  is  not  the  enemy  of  man,  but 
thi-ough  the  medium  of  a  false  system  of  govern- 

199 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

ment.  Instead,  therefore,  of  exclaiming  against 
the  ambition  of  kings,  the  exclamation  should  be 
directed  against  the  principle  of  such  govern- 
ments; and  instead  of  seeking  to  reform  the  in- 
dividual, the  wisdom  of  a  nation  should  apply 
itself  to  reform  the  system. 

Whether  the  forms  and  maxims  of  govern- 
ments which  are  still  in  practise,  were  adapted  to 
the  condition  of  the  world  at  the  period  they  were 
established,  is  not  in  this  case  the  question.  The 
older  they  are,  the  less  correspondence  can  they 
have  with  the  present  state  of  things.  Time,  and 
change  of  circumstances  and  opinions,  have  the 
same  progressive  effect  in  rendering  modes  of 
government  o.bsolete,  as  they  have  upon  customs 
and  manners.  Agriculture,  commerce,  manu- 
factures, and  the  tranquil  arts,  by  which  the  pros- 
perity of  nations  is  best  promoted,  require  a  dif- 
ferent system  of  government,  and  a  different 
species  of  knowledge  to  direct  its  operations,  than 
what  might  have  been  required  in  the  former  con- 
dition of  the  world. 

As  it  is  not  difficult  to  perceive,  from  the  en- 
lightened state  of  mankind,  that  hereditary  gov- 
ernments are  verging  to  their  decline,  and  that 
revolutions  on  the  broad  basis  of  national  sov- 
ereignty, and  government  by  representation,  are 

200 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

making  their  way  in  Europe,  it  would  be  an  act 
of  wisdom  to  anticipate  their  approach,  and  pro- 
duce revolutions  by  reason  and  accommodation, 
rather  than  commit  them  to  the  issue  of  convul- 
sions. 

From  what  we  now  see,  nothing  of  reform 
on  the  political  world  ought  to  be  held  improb- 
able. It  is  an  age  of  revolutions,  in  which  every 
thing  may  be  looked  for.  The  intrigue  of  courts, 
by  which  the  system  of  war  is  kept  up,  may  pro- 
voke a  confederation  of  nations  to  abolish  it :  and 
an  European  Congress,  to  patronize  the  progress 
of  free  government,  and  promote  the  civilization 
of  nations  with  each  other,  is  an  event  nearer 
in  probability,  than  once  were  the  revolutions  and 
alHance  of  France  and  America. 


IV.17  201 


RIGHTS  OF  MAN 


PART  SECOND 


203 


MARQUIS  DE  LAFAYETTE 

Photogravure  from  the  Original  Painting 


TO 

M.  DE  LA  FAYETTE 


AFTER  an  acquaintance  of  nearly  fifteen 
years,  in  difficult  situations  in  America,  and 
various  consultations  in  Europe,  I  feel  a  pleasure 
in  presenting  to  you  this  small  treatise,  in  grati- 
tude for  your  services  to  my  beloved  America, 
and  as  a  testimony  of  my  esteem  for  the  virtues, 
public  and  private,  which  I  know  you  to  possess. 
The  only  point  upon  which  I  could  ever  dis- 
cover that  we  differed  was  not  as  to  principles  of 
government,  but  as  to  time.  For  my  own  part, 
I  think  it  equally  as  injurious  to  good  principles 
to  permit  them  to  linger,  as  to  push  them  on  too 
fast.  That  which  you  suppose  accomplishable  in 
fourteen  or  fifteen  years,  I  may  believe  prac- 
ticable in  a  much  shorter  period.  Mankind,  as  it 
appears  to  me,  are  always  ripe  enough  to  under- 
stand their  true  interest,  provided  it  be  presented 
clearly  to  their  understanding,  and  that  in  a  man- 
ner not  to  create  suspicion  by  any  thing  like  self- 
design,  nor  offend  by  assuming  too  much. 
Where  we  w  ould  wish  to  reform  we  must  not  re- 
proach. 

205 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

When  the  American  Revolution  was  estab- 
lished, I  felt  a  disposition  to  sit  serenely  down 
and  enjoy  the  calm.  It  did  not  appear  to  me 
that  any  object  could  afterwards  arise  great 
enough  to  make  me  quit  tranquillity,  and  feel  as  I 
had  felt  before.  But  when  principle,  and  not 
place,  is  the  energetic  cause  of  action,  a  man,  I 
find,  is  everywhere  the  same. 

I  am  now  once  more  in  the  public  world ;  and 
as  I  have  not  a  right  to  contemplate  on  so  many 
years  of  remaining  life  as  you  have,  I  am  resolved 
to  labor  as  fast  as  I  can ;  and  as  I  am  anxious  for 
your  aid  and  your  company,  I  wish  you  to  hasten 
your  principles  and  overtake  me. 

If  you  make  a  campaign  the  ensuing  spring, 
which  it  is  most  probable  there  will  be  no  occa- 
sion for,  I  will  come  and  join  you.  Should  the 
campaign  commence,  I  hope  it  will  terminate  in 
the  extinction  of  German  despotism,  and  in  es- 
tablishing the  freedom  of  all  Germany.  When 
France  shall  be  surrounded  with  revolutions,  she 
will  be  in  peace  and  safety,  and  her  taxes,  as  well 
as  those  of  Germany,  will  consequently  become 

less. 

[Your  sincere. 

Affectionate  Friend, 

THOMAS  PAINE. 

London,  Feb.  9, 1792. 

206 


PREFACE 


WHEN  I  began  the  chapter  entitled  the 
"Conclusion"  in  the  former  part  of  the 
"Rights  of  Man,"  pubhshed  last  year,  it  was  my 
intention  to  have  extended  it  to  a  greater  length ; 
but  in  casting  the  whole  matter  in  my  mind  which 
I  wished  to  add,  I  found  that  I  must  either  make 
the  work  too  bulky,  or  contract  my  plan  too  much. 
I  therefore  brought  it  to  a  close  as  soon  as  the  sub- 
ject  would  admit,  and  reserved  what  I  had 
further  to  say  to  another  opportunity. 

Several  other  reasons  contributed  to  produce 
this  determination.  I  wished  to  know  the  manner 
in  which  a  work,  written  in  a  style  of  thinking 
and  expression  different  to  what  had  been  cus- 
tomary in  England,  would  be  received  before  I 
ventured  farther.  A  great  field  was  opening  to 
the  view  of  mankind  by  means  of  the  French 
Revolution.  Mr.  Burke's  outrageous  opposition 
thereto  brought  the  controversy  into  England, 
He  attacked  principles  which  he  knew  (from  in- 
formation) I  would  contest  with  him,  because 
they  are  principles  which  I  beheve  to  be  good,  and 
which  I  have  contributed  to  estabhsh,  and  con- 

207j 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

ceive  myself  bound  to  defend.  Had  he  not  urged 
the  controversy,  I  had  most  probably  been  a  silent 
man. 

Another  reason  for  deferring  the  remainder 
of  the  work,  was  that  Mr.  Burke  promised  in  his 
first  pubUcation  to  renew  the  subject  at  another 
opportunity,  and  to  make  a  comparison  of  what 
he  called  the  English  and  French  constitutions. 
I  therefore  held  myself  in  reserve  for  him.  He 
has  published  two  works  since,  without  doing  this ; 
which  he  certainly  would  not  have  omitted,  had 
the  comparison  been  in  his  favor. 

In  his  last  work,  his  "Appeal  from  the  New 
to  the  Old  Whigs,"  he  has  quoted  about  ten  pages 
from  the  "Rights  of  Man,"  and  having  given 
himself  the  trouble  of  doing  this,  says  he  "shall 
not  attempt  in  the  smallest  degree  to  refute 
them,"  meaning  the  principles  therein  contained. 
I  am  enough  acquainted  with  Mr.  Burke,  to 
know,  that  he  would  if  he  could.  But  instead  of 
contesting  them,  he  immediately  after  consoles 
himself  with  saying,  that  he  "has  done  his  part." 
He  has  not  done  his  pajrt.  He  has  not  performed 
his  promise  of  a  comparison  of  constitutions.  He 
started  the  controversy,  he  gave  the  challenge, 
and  has  fled  from  it ;  and  he  is  now  a  case  in  point 
with  his  own  opinion,  that,  "the  age  of  chivalry 

208 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE' 

is  gone! "  The  title,  as  well  as  the  substance  of 
his  last  work,  his  "Appeal,"  is  his  condemnation. 
Principles  must  stand  on  their  own  merits,  and  if 
they  are  good  they  certainly  will.  To  put  them 
under  the  shelter  of  other  men's  authority,  as  Mr. 
Burke  has  done,  serves  to  bring  them  into  suspi- 
cion. Mr.  Burke  is  not  very  fond  of  dividing  his 
honors,  but  in  this  case  he  is  artfully  dividing  the 
disgrace. 

But  who  are  those  to  whom  ]VIr.  Burke  has 
made  his  appeal?  A  set  of  childish  thinkers  and 
half-way  politicians  born  in  the  last  century;  men 
who  went  no  farther  with  any  principle  than  as 
it  suited  their  purpose  as  a  party ;  the  nation  was 
always  left  out  of  the  question;  and  this  has 
been  the  character  of  every  party  from  that  day 
to  this.  The  nation  sees  nothing  in  such  works, 
or  such  politics,  worthy  its  attention.  A  little 
matter  will  move  a  party,  but  it  must  be  some- 
thing great  that  moves  a  nation. 

Though  I  see  nothing  in  Mr.  Burke's  "Ap- 
peal" worth  taking  much  notice  of,  there  is,  how- 
ever, one  expression  upon  which  I  shall  offer  a 
few  remarks.  After  quoting  largely  from  the 
"Rights  of  Man,"  and  declining  to  contest  the 
principles  contained  in  that  work,  he  says,  "This 
will  most  probably  be  done  (if  such  writings  shall 

209 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

be  thought  to  deserve  any  other  refutation  than 
that  of  criminal  justice)  by  others,  who  may 
think  with  Mr.  Burke  and  with  the  same  zeal." 

In  the  first  place,  it  has  not  yet  been  done 
by  anybody.  Not  less,  I  believe,  than  eight  or 
ten  pamphlets,  intended  as  answer  to  the  former 
part  of  the  "Rights  of  Man,"  have  been  pub- 
lished by  different  persons,  and  not  one  of  them, 
to  my  knowledge,  has  extended  to  a  second  edi- 
tion, nor  are  even  the  titles  of  them  so  much  as 
generally  remembered.  As  I  am  averse  to  un- 
necessarily multiplying  publications,  I  have  ans- 
wered none  of  them.  And  as  I  believe  that  a 
man  may  write  himself  out  of  reputation  when 
nobody  else  can  do  it,  I  am  careful  to  avoid  that 
rock. 

But  as  I  would  decline  unnecessary  pubHca- 
tions  on  the  one  hand,  so  would  I  avoid  every 
thing  that  might  appear  like  sullen  pride  on  the 
other.  If  Mr.  Bui-ke,  or  any  person  on  his  side 
the  question,  will  produce  an  answer  to  the 
"Rights  of  Man,"  that  shall  extend  to  a  half,  or 
even  to  a  fourth  part  of  the  number  of  copies  to 
which  the  "Rights  of  ]\Ian"  extended,  I  will  reply 
to  his  work.  But  until  this  be  done,  I  shall  so 
far  take  the  sense  of  the  public  for  my  guide 
(and  the  world  knows  I  am  not  a  flatterer)  that 
210 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

what  they  do  not  think  worth  while  to  read,  is 
not  worth  mine  to  answer.  I  suppose  the  num- 
ber of  copies  to  which  the  first  part  of  the  "Rights 
of  Man"  extended,  taking  England,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland,  is  not  less  than  between  forty  and 
fifty  thousand. 

I  now  come  to  remark  on  the  remaining  part 
of  the  quotation  I  have  made  from  Mr.  Burke. 

"If,"  says  he,  "such  writings  shall  be  thought 
to  deserve  any  other  refutation  than  that  of 
criminal  justice." 

Pardoning  the  pun,  it  must  be  criminal  jus- 
tice indeed  that  should  condemn  a  work  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  not  being  able  to  refute  it.  The  great- 
est condemnation  that  could  be  passed  upon  it 
would  be  a  refutation.  But  in  proceeding  by 
the  method  Mr.  Burke  alludes  to,  the  condem- 
nation would,  in  the  final  event,  pass  upon  the 
criminality  of  the  process  and  not  upon  the  work, 
and  in  this  case,  I  had  rather  be  the  author, 
than  be  either  the  judge,  or  the  jury,  that  should 
condemn  it. 

But  to  come  at  once  to  the  point.  I  have 
differed  from  some  professional  gentlemen  on 
the  subject  of  prosecutions,  and  I  since  find  they 
are  falling  into  my  opinion,  which  I  will  here 
state  as  fully,  but  as  concisely  as  I  can. 

211 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

I  will  first  put  a  case  with  respect  to  any 
law,  and  then  compare  it  with  a  government,  or 
with  what  in  England  is,  or  has  been,  called  a 
constitution. 

It  would  be  an  act  of  despotism,  or  what  in 
England  is  called  arbitrary  power,  to  make  a  law 
to  prohibit  investigating  the  principles,  good  or 
bad,  on  which  such  a  law,  or  any  other  is 
founded. 

If  a  law  be  bad,  it  is  one  thing  to  oppose  the 
practise  of  it,  but  it  is  quite  a  different  thing 
to  expose  its  errors,  to  reason  on  its  defects,  and 
to  show  cause  why  it  should  be  repealed,  or  why 
another  ought  to  be  substituted  in  its  place.  I 
have  always  held  it  an  opinion  (making  it  also 
my  practise)  that  it  is  better  to  obey  a  bad  law, 
making  use  at  the  same  time  of  every  argument 
to  show  its  errors  and  procure  its  repeal,  than 
forcibly  to  violate  it;  because  the  precedent  of 
breaking  a  bad  law  might  weaken  the  force,  and 
lead  to  a  discretionary  violation  of  those  which 
are  good. 

The  case  is  the  same  with  respect  to  principles 
and  forms  of  government,  or  to  what  are  called 
constitutions,  and  the  parts  of  which  they  are 
composed. 

It  is  for  the  good  of  nations,  and  not  for  the 

212 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

emolument  or  aggrandizement  of  particular  in- 
dividuals, that  government  ought  to  be  estab- 
lished, and  that  mankind  are  at  the  expense  of 
supporting  it.  Tlie  defects  of  every  government 
and  constitution,  both  as  to  principle  and  form 
must,  on  a  parity  of  reasoning,  be  as  open  to 
discussion  as  the  defects  of  a  law,  and  it  is  a  duty 
which  every  man  owes  to  society  to  point  them 
out.  When  those  defects,  and  the  means  of  rem- 
edying them  are  generally  seen  by  a  nation,  that 
nation  will  reform  its  government  or  its  consti- 
tution in  the  one  case,  as  the  government  re- 
pealed or  reformed  the  law  in  the  other. 

The  operation  of  government  is  restricted  to 
the  making  and  the  administering  of  laws;  but 
it  is  to  a  nation  that  the  right  of  forming  or  re- 
forming, generating  or  regenerating  constitu- 
tions and  governments  belongs ;  and  consequently 
those  subjects,  as  subjects  of  investigation,  are 
always  before  a  country  as  a  matte?'  of  rights  and 
cannot,  without  invading  the  general  rights  of 
that  country,  be  made  subjects  for  prosecution. 
On  this  ground  I  will  meet  Mr.  Burke  whenever 
he  pleases.  It  is  better  that  the  whole  argument 
should  come  out,  than  to  seek  to  stifle  it.  It  was 
himself  that  opened  the  controversy,  and  he 
ought  not  to  desert  it. 

213 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

I  do  not  believe  that  monarchy  and  aristoc- 
racy will  continue  seven  years  longer  in  any  of 
the  enlightened  countries  in  Europe.  If  better 
reasons  can  be  shown  for  them  than  against 
them,  they  will  stand;  if  the  contrary,  they  will 
not.  Mankind  are  not  now  to  be  told  they  shall 
not  think,  or  they  shall  not  read ;  and  publications 
that  go  no  farther  than  to  investigate  principles 
of  government,  to  invite  men  to  reason  and  to 
reflect,  and  to  show  the  errors  and  excellencies  of 
different  systems,  have  a  right  to  appear.  If 
they  do  not  excite  attention,  they  are  not  worth 
the  trouble  of  a  prosecution;  and  if  they  do,  the 
prosecution  will  amount  to  nothing,  since  it  can- 
not amount  to  a  prohibition  of  reading.  This 
would  be  a  sentence  of  the  public,  instead  of  the 
author,  and  would  also  be  the  most  effectual 
mode  of  making  or  hastening  revolutions. 

On  all  cases  that  apply  universally  to  a  na- 
tion, with  respect  to  systems  of  government,  a 
jury  of  twelve  men  is  not  competent  to  decide. 
iWhere  there  are  no  witnesses  to  be  examined,  no 
facts  to  be  proved,  and  where  the  whole  matter 
is  before  the  whole  public  and  the  merits  or  de- 
merits of  it  resting  on  their  opinion;  and  where 
there  is  nothing  to  be  known  in  a  court,  but  what 
every  body  knows  out  of  it,  every  twelve  men 
214 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

are  equally  as  good  a  jury  as  the  other,  and 
would  most  probably  reverse  each  other's  verdict ; 
or  from  the  variety  of  their  opinions  not  be  able 
to  form  one. 

It  is  one  case,  whether  a  nation  approve  a 
work,  or  a  plan;  but  it  is  quite  another  case, 
whether  it  will  commit  to  any  such  jury  the  power 
of  determining  whether  that  nation  have  a  right 
to,  or  shall  reform  its  government,  or  not.  I 
mention  these  cases,  that  Mr.  Burke  may  see  I 
have  not  written  on  government  without  reflect- 
ing on  what  is  law,  as  well  as  on  what  are  rights. 
The  only  effectual  jury  in  such  cases  would  be, 
a  convention  of  the  whole  nation  fairly  elected; 
for  in  aU  such  cases  the  whole  nation  is  the 
vicinage.  If  Mr.  Burke  will  propose  such  a 
jury,  I  will  waive  all  privileges  of  being  the  cit- 
izen of  any  other  country,  and,  defending  its 
principles,  abide  the  issue,  provided  he  will  do 
the  same;  for  my  opinion  is,  that  his  work  and 
his  principles  would  be  condemned  instead  of 
mine. 

As  to  the  prejudices  which  men  have  from 
education  and  habit,  in  favor  of  any  particular 
form  or  system  of  government,  those  prejudices 
have  yet  to  stand  the  test  of  reason  and  reflection. 
In  fact,  such  prejudices  are  nothing.    No  man  is 

215 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

prejudiced  in  favor  of  a  thing,  knowing  it  to  be 
wrong.  He  is  attached  to  it  on  the  behef  of  its 
being  right;  and  when  he  sees  it  is  not  so,  the 
prejudice  will  be  gone.  We  have  but  a  defective 
idea  what  prejudice  is.  It  might  be  said  that 
until  men  think  for  themselves  the  whole  is 
prejudice,  and  not  opinion;  for  that  only  is  opin- 
ion which  is  the  result  of  reason  and  reflection. 
I  offer  this  remark,  that  Mr.  Burke  may  not 
confide  too  much  in  what  has  been  the  customary 
prejudices  of  the  country. 

I  do  not  believe  that  the  people  of  England 
have  ever  been  fairly  and  candidly  dealt  by. 
They  have  been  imposed  upon  by  parties,  and  by 
men  assuming  the  character  of  leaders.  It  is  time 
that  the  nation  should  rise  above  those  trifles.  It 
is  time  to  dismiss  that  inattention  which  has  so 
long  been  the  encouraging  cause  of  stretching 
taxation  to  excess.  It  is  time  to  dismiss  all  those 
songs  and  toasts  which  are  calculated  to  enslave, 
and  operate  to  suffocate  reflection. 

On  all  such  subjects  men  have  only  to  think, 
and  they  will  neither  act  wrong  nor  be  misled. 
To  say  that  any  people  are  not  fit  for  freedom, 
is  to  make  poverty  their  choice,  and  to  say  they 
had  rather  be  loaded  with  taxes  than  not.  If 
such  a  case  could  be  proved,  it  would  equally 
216 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

prove,  that  those  who  govern  are  not  fit  to  gov- 
ern them,  for  they  are  a  part  of  the  same  national 
mass. 

But  admitting  governments  to  be  changed  all 
over  Europe,  it  certainly  may  be  done  without 
convulsion  and  revenge.  It  is  not  worth  making 
changes  or  revolutions,  unless  it  be  for  some 
great  national  benefit ;  and  when  this  shall  appear 
to  a  nation,  the  danger  will  be,  as  in  America 
and  France,  to  those  who  oppose;  and  with  this 
reflection  I  close  my  Preface. 

THOMAS  PAINE. 

London,  Feb.  9, 1792. 


iv-18  217 


RIGHTS  OF  MAN 

PART  SECOND 


INTRODUCTION 

WHAT  Archimedes  said  of  the  mechan- 
ical powers,  may  be  applied  to  reason 
and  liberty:  "Had  we"  said  he,  "a  place  to 
stand  upon,  we  might  raise  the  world." 

The  Revolution  of  America  presented  in  pol- 
itics what  was  only  theory  in  mechanics.  So 
deeply  rooted  were  all  the  governments  of  the 
old  world,  and  so  effectually  had  the  tyranny  and 
the  antiquity  of  habit  established  itself  over  the 
mind,  that  no  beginning  could  be  made  in  Asia, 
Africa,  or  Europe,  to  reform  the  political  con- 
dition of  man.  Freedom  had  been  hunted  round 
the  globe;  reason  was  considered  as  rebellion; 
and  the  slavery  of  fear  had  made  men  afraid  to 
think. 

But  such  is  the  irresistible  nature  of  truth, 
that  all  it  asks,  and  all  it  wants,  is  the  liberty  of 
appearing.  The  sun  needs  no  inscription  to  dis- 
tinguish him  from  darkness;  and  no  sooner  did 
the  American  governments  display  themselves  to 
the  world,  than  despotism  felt  a  shock,  and  man 

began  to  contemplate  redress. 

219 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

The  independence  of  America,  considered 
merely  as  a  separation  from  England,  would 
have  been  a  matter  but  of  little  importance,  had 
it  not  been  accompanied  by  a  revolution  in  the 
principles  and  practise  of  governments.  She 
made  a  stand,  not  for  herself  only,  but  for  the 
world,  and  looked  beyond  the  advantages  her- 
self could  receive.  Even  the  Hessian,  though 
hired  to  fight  against  her,  may  live  to  bless  his 
defeat;  and  England,  condemning  the  vicious- 
ness  of  its  government,  rejoice  in  its  miscarriage. 

As  America  was  the  only  spot  in  the  political 
world,  where  the  principles  of  universal  refor- 
mation could  begin,  so  also  was  it  the  best  in  the 
natural  world.  An  assemblage  of  circumstances 
conspired,  not  only  to  give  birth,  but  to  add 
gigantic  maturity  to  its  principles. 

The  scene  wliich  that  country  presents  to  the 
eye  of  a  spectator,  has  something  in  it  which  gen- 
erates and  encourages  great  ideas.  Nature  ap- 
pears to  him  in  magnitude.  The  mighty  objects 
he  beholds,  act  upon  his  mind  by  enlarging  it, 
and  he  partakes  of  the  greatness  he  contemplates. 
Its  first  settlers  were  emigrants  from  difi'erent 
Eui-opean  nations,  and  of  diversified  professions 
of  rehgion,  retiring  from  the  governmental  per- 
secutions of  the  old  world,  and  meeting  in  the 
220 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

new,  not  as  enemies,  but  as  brothers.  The  wants 
which  necessarily  accompany  the  cultivation  of 
a  wilderness,  produced  among  them  a  state  of 
society,  which  countries,  long  harrassed  by  the 
quarrels  and  intrigues  of  governments,  had 
neglected  to  cherish.  In  such  a  situation  man 
becomes  what  he  ought.  He  sees  his  species, 
not  with  the  inhuman  idea  of  a  natural  enemy, 
but  as  kindred;  and  the  example  shows  to  the 
artificial  world,  that  man  must  go  back  to  nature 
for  information. 

From  the  rapid  progress  which  America 
makes  in  every  species  of  improvement,  it  is 
rational  to  conclude,  that  if  the  governments  of 
Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe,  had  begun  on  a  prin- 
ciple similar  to  that  of  America,  or  had  not  been 
very  early  corrupted  therefrom,  that  those  coun- 
tries must,  by  this  time,  have  been  in  a  far  supe- 
rior condition  to  what  they  are.  Age  after  age 
has  passed  away,  for  no  other  purpose  than  to 
behold  their  wretchedness.  Could  we  suppose  a 
spectator  who  knew  nothing  of  the  world,  and 
who  was  put  into  it  merely  to  make  his  observa- 
tions, he  would  take  a  great  part  of  the  old  world 
to  be  new,  just  struggHng  with  the  difficulties 
and  hardships  of  an  infant  settlement.  He  could 
not  suppose  that  the  hordes  of  miserable  poor, 
with  which  old  countries  abound,  could  be  any 

221 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

other  than  those  who  had  not  yet  had  time  to 
provide  for  themselves.  Little  would  he  think 
they  were  the  consequence  of  what  in  such  coun- 
tries is  called  government. 

If,  from  the  more  wretched  parts  of  the  old 
world,  we  look  at  those  which  are  in  an  advanced 
stage  of  improvement,  we  still  find  the  greedy 
hand  of  government  thrusting  itself  into  every 
corner  and  crevice  of  industry,  and  grasping  the 
spoil  of  the  multitude.  Invention  is  continually 
exercised,  to  furnish  new  pretenses  for  revenue 
and  taxation.  It  watches  prosperity  as  its  prey, 
and  permits  none  to  escape  without  tribute. 

As  revolutions  have  begun,  (and  the  probabil- 
ity is  always  greater  against  a  thing  beginning, 
than  of  proceeding  after  it  has  begun) ,  it  is  nat- 
ural to  expect  that  other  revolutions  will  follow. 
The  amazing  and  still  increasing  expenses  with 
which  old  governments  are  conducted,  the 
numerous  wars  they  engage  in  or  provoke,  the 
embarrassment  they  throw  in  the  way  of  univer- 
sal civilization  and  commerce,  and  the  oppres- 
sion and  usurpation  they  practise  at  home,  have 
wearied  out  the  patience,  and  exhausted  the  prop- 
erty of  the  world.  In  such  a  situation,  and  with 
the  examples  already  existing,  revolutions  are  to 
be  looked  for.  They  are  become  subjects  of  uni- 
222 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

versal  conversation,  and  may  be  considered  as  the 
order  of  the  day. 

If  systems  of  government  can  be  introduced, 
less  expensive,  and  more  productive  of  general 
happiness,  than  those  which  have  existed,  all  at- 
tempts to  oppose  their  progress  will  in  the  end 
be  fruitless.  Reason,  like  time,  will  make  its  own 
way,  and  prejudice  will  fall  in  a  combat  with 
interest.  If  universal  peace,  civilization,  and 
commerce,  are  ever  to  be  the  happy  lot  of  man, 
it  cannot  be  accomplished  but  by  a  revolution  in 
the  system  of  governments.  All  the  monarchial 
governments  are  military.  War  is  their  trade, 
plunder  and  revenue  their  objects.  While  such 
governments  continue,  peace  has  not  the  absolute 
security  of  a  day. 

What  is  the  history  of  all  monarchial  govern- 
ments, but  a  disgustful  picture  of  human  wretch- 
edness, and  the  accidental  respite  of  a  few  years' 
repose?  Wearied  with  war,  and  tired  with  hu- 
man butchery,  they  sat  down  to  rest,  and  called 
it  peace.  This  certainly  is  not  the  condition  that 
heaven  intended  for  man;  and  if  this  he  mon- 
archy, well  might  monarchy  be  reckoned  among 
the  sins  of  the  Jews. 

The  revolutions  which  formerly  took  place 
in  the  world,  had  nothing  in  them  that  interested 

223 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

the  bulk  of  mankind.  They  extended  only  to  a 
change  of  persons  and  measures,  but  not  of  prin- 
ciples, and  rose  or  fell  among  the  common  trans- 
actions of  the  moment.  What  we  now  behold, 
may  not  improperly  be  called  a," counter-revolu- 
tion/' 

Conquest  and  tyranny,  at  some  early  period, 
dispossessed  man  of  his  rights,  and  he  is  now 
recovering  them.  And  as  the  tide  of  all  human 
affairs  has  its  ebb  and  flow  in  directions  con- 
trary to  each  other,  so  also  is  it  in  this.  Gov- 
ernment founded  on  a  moral  theory^  on  a  system 
of  universal  peace,  on  the  indefeasible,  hereditary 
rights  of  man,  is  now  revolving  from  West  to 
East,  by  a  stronger  impulse  than  the  government 
of  the  sword  revolved  from  East  to  West.  It  in- 
terests not  particular  individuals,  but  nations,  in 
its  progress,  and  promises  a  new  era  to  the 
human  race. 

The  danger  to  which  the  success  of  revolu- 
tions is  most  exposed,  is  that  of  attempting  them 
before  the  principles  on  which  they  proceed,  and 
the  advantages  to  result  from  them,  are  suffi- 
ciently seen  and  understood.  Almost  every  thing 
appertaining  to  the  circumstances  of  a  nation, 
has  been  absorbed  and  confounded  under  the 
general  and  mysterious  word  government, 
224 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

Though  it  avoids  taking  to  its  account  the  errors 
it  commits,  and  the  mischiefs  it  occasions,  it  fails 
not  to  arrogate  to  itself  whatever  has  the  appear- 
ance of  prosperity.  It  robs  industry  of  its  hon- 
ors, by  pedantically  making  itself  the  cause  of 
its  effects ;  and  purloins  from  the  general  charac- 
ter of  man,  the  merits  that  appertain  to  him  as  a 
social  being. 

It  may  therefore  be  of  use,  in  this  day  of  rev- 
olutions, to  discriminate  between  those  things 
which  are  the  effect  of  government,  and  those 
which  are  not.  This  will  best  be  done  by  taking 
a  review  of  society  and  civilization,  and  the  con- 
sequences resulting  therefrom,  as  things  distinct 
from  what  are  called  governments.  By  begin- 
ning with  this  investigation,  we  shall  be  able  to 
assign  effects  to  their  proper  cause,  and  analyze 
the  mass  of  common  errors. 


225 


CHAPTER  I 

OF  SOCIETY  AND  CIVILIZATION 

GREAT  part  of  that  order  which  reigns 
among  mankind  is  not  the  effect  of  gov- 
ernment. It  had  its  origin  in  the  principles  of 
society  and  the  natural  constitution  of  man.  It 
existed  prior  to  government,  and  would  exist  if 
the  formality  of  government  was  abohshed.  The 
mutual  dependence  and  reciprocal  interest  which 
man  has  upon  man,  and  all  parts  of  a  civilized 
community  upon  each  other,  create  that  great 
chain  of  connection  which  holds  it  together. 
The  landholder,  the  farmer,  the  manufacturer, 
the  merchant,  the  tradesman,  and  every  occupa- 
tion, prospers  by  the  aid  which  each  receives 
from  the  other,  and  from  the  whole.  Common 
interest  regulates  their  concerns,  and  forms  their 
laws;  and  the  laws  which  common  usage  ordains, 
have  a  greater  influence  than  the  laws  of  gov- 
ernment. In  fine,  society  performs  for  itself 
almost  every  thing  which  is  ascribed  to  govern- 
ment. 

To  understand  the  nature  and  quantity  of 
government  proper  for  man,  it  is  necessary  to 
attend  to  his  character.    As  Nature  created  him 
226 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

for  social  life,  she  fitted  him  for  the  station  she 
intended.  In  all  cases  she  made  his  natural 
wants  greater  than  his  individual  powers.  No 
one  man  is  capable,  without  the  aid  of  society,  of 
supplying  his  own  wants ;  and  those  wants  acting 
upon  every  individual,  impel  the  whole  of  them 
into  society,  as  naturally  as  gravitation  acts  to 
a  center. 

But  she  has  gone  further.  She  has  not  only 
forced  man  into  society,  by  a  diversity  of  wants, 
which  the  reciprocal  aid  of  each  other  can  supply, 
but  she  has  implanted  in  him  a  system  of  social 
affections,  which,  though  not  necessary  to  his 
existence,  are  essential  to  his  happiness.  There 
is  no  period  in  life  when  this  love  for  society 
ceases  to  act.    It  begins  and  ends  with  our  being. 

If  we  examine,  with  attention,  into  the  com- 
position and  constitution  of  man,  the  diversity 
of  his  wants,  and  the  diversity  of  talents  in  dif- 
ferent men  for  reciprocally  accommodating  the 
wants  of  each  other,  his  propensity  to  society, 
and  consequently  to  preserve  the  advantages  re- 
sulting from  it,  we  shall  easily  discover,  that  a 
great  part  of  what  is  called  government  is  mere 
imposition. 

Government  is  no  farther  necessary  than  to 
supply  the  few  cases  to  which  society  and  civil- 

227j 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

ization  are  not  conveniently  competent;  and  in- 
stances are  not  wanting  to  show,  that  every  thing 
which  government  can  usefully  add  thereto,  has 
been  performed  by  the  common  consent  of  so- 
ciety, without  government. 

For  upward  of  two  years  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  American  War,  and  to  a 
longer  period  in  several  of  the  American  states, 
there  were  no  established  forms  of  government. 
The  old  governments  had  been  abolished,  and  the 
country  was  too  much  occupied  in  defense,  to 
employ  its  attention  in  establishing  new  govern- 
ments; yet  during  this  interval,  order  and  har- 
mony were  preserved  as  inviolate  as  in  any  coun- 
try in  Europe. 

There  is  a  natural  aptness  in  man,  and  more 
so  in  society,  because  it  embraces  a  greater  va- 
riety of  abilities  and  resources,  to  accommodate 
itself  to  whatever  situation  it  is  in.  The  instant 
formal  government  is  abolished,  §;ociety  begins 
to  act.  A  general  association  takes  place,  and 
common  interest  produces  common  security. 

So  far  is  it  from  being  true,  as  has  been  pre- 
tended, that  the  abohtion  of  any  formal  govern- 
ment is  the  dissolution  of  society,  that  it  acts  by 
a  contrary  impulse,  and  brings  the  latter  the 
closer  together.  All  that  part  of  its  organization 
228 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

which  it  had  committed  to  its  government,  de- 
volves again  upon  itself,  and  acts  through  its 
medium. 

When  men,  as  well  from  natural  instinct,  as 
from  reciprocal  benefits,  have  habituated  them- 
selves to  social  and  civilized  life,  there  is  always 
enough  of  its  principles  in  practise  to  carry  them 
through  any  changes  they  may  find  necessary  or 
convenient  to  make  in  their  government.  In 
short,  man  is  so  naturally  a  creature  of  society, 
that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  put  him  out  of  it. 

Formal  government  makes  but  a  small  part 
of  civilized  life;  and  when  even  the  best  that 
human  wisdom  can  devise  is  established,  it  is  a 
thing  more  in  name  and  idea,  than  in  fact.  It  is 
to  the  great  and  fundamental  principles  of 
society  and  civilization — to  the  common  usage 
universally  consented  to,  and  mutually  and  re- 
ciprocally maintained — to  the  unceasing  circula- 
tion of  interest,  which,  passing  through  its 
million  channels,  invigorates  the  whole  mass  of 
civilized  man — it  is  to  these  things,  infinitely 
more  than  to  any  thing  which  even  the  best  insti- 
tuted government  can  perform,  that  the  safety 
and  prosperity  of  the  individual  and  of  the  whole 
depends. 

The  more  perfect  civilization  is,  the  less  occa- 

229 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

sion  has  it  for  government,  because  the  more  does 
it  regulate  its  own  affairs,  and  govern  itself;  but 
so  contrary  is  the  practise  of  old  governments  to 
the  reason  of  the  case,  that  the  expenses  of  them 
increase  in  the  proportion  they  ought  to  dimin- 
ish. It  is  but  few  general  laws  that  civilized  life 
requires,  and  those  of  such  common  usefulness, 
that  whether  they  are  enforced  by  the  forms  of 
government  or  not,  the  effect  will  be  nearly  the 
same.  If  we  consider  what  the  principles  are 
that  first  condense  men  into  society,  and  what  the 
motives  that  regulate  their  mutual  intercourse 
afterwards,  we  shall  find,  by  the  time  we  arrive 
at  what  is  called  government,  that  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  business  is  performed  by  the  natural 
operation  of  the  parts  upon  each  other. 

Man,  with  respect  to  all  those  matters,  is 
more  a  creature  of  consistency  than  he  is  aware, 
or  that  governments  would  wish  him  to  beheve. 
All  the  great  laws  of  society  are  laws  of  nature. 
Those  of  trade  and  commerce,  whether  with  re- 
spect to  the  intercourse  of  individuals,  or  of 
nations,  are  laws  of  mutual  and  reciprocal  inter- 
est. They  are  followed  and  obeyed  because  it  is 
the  interest  of  the  parties  so  to  do,  and  not  on 
account  of  any  formal  laws  their  governments 
may  impose  or  interpose. 
230 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

But  how  often  is  the  natural  propensity  to 
society  disturbed  or  destroyed  by  the  operations 
of  government.  When  the  latter,  instead  of 
being  ingrafted  on  the  principles  of  the  former, 
assumes  to  exist  for  itself,  and  acts  by  partiali- 
ties of  favor  and  oppression,  it  becomes  the  cause 
of  the  mischiefs  it  ought  to  prevent. 

If  we  look  back  to  the  riots  and  tumults, 
which  at  various  times  have  happened  in  Eng- 
land, we  shall  find,  that  they  did  not  proceed  from 
the  want  of  a  government,  but  that  government 
was  itself  the  generating  cause;  instead  of  con- 
sohdating  society,  it  divided  it;  it  deprived  it  of 
its  natural  cohesion,  and  engendered  discontents 
and  disorders,  which  otherwise  would  not  have 
existed. 

In  those  associations  which  men  promiscu- 
ously form  for  the  purpose  of  trade,  or  of  any 
concern,  in  which  government  is  totally  out  of 
the  question,  and  in  which  they  act  merely  on 
the  principles  of  society,  we  see  how  naturally 
the  various  parties  unite ;  and  this  shows,  by  com- 
parison, that  governments,  so  far  from  being 
always  the  cause  or  means  of  order,  are  often  the 
destruction  of  it.  The  riots  of  1780  had  no  other 
source  than  the  remains  of  those  prejudices, 
which  the  government  itself  had  encouraged. 

231 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

But  with  respect  to  England  there  are  also  other 
causes. 

Excess  and  inequality  of  taxation,  however 
disguised  in  the  means,  never  fail  to  appear  in 
their  effects.  As  a  great  mass  of  the  community 
are  thrown  thereby  into  poverty  and  discontent, 
they  are  constantly  on  the  brink  of  commotion; 
and  deprived,  as  they  unfortunately  are,  of  the 
means  of  information,  are  easily  heated  to  out- 
rage. Whatever  the  apparent  cause  of  any  riots 
may  be,  the  real  one  is  always  want  of  happiness. 
It  shows  that  something  is  wrong  in  the  system 
of  government,  that  injures  the  felicity  by  which 
society  is  to  be  preserved. 

But  as  fact  is  superior  to  reasoning,  the  in- 
stance of  America  presents  itself  to  confirm  these 
observations.  If  there  is  a  country  in  the  world, 
where  concord,  according  to  common  calculation, 
would  be  least  expected,  it  is  America.  Made  up, 
as  it  is,  of  people  from  different  nations,*  accus- 

*  That  part  of  America  which  is  generally  called  New  Eng- 
land, including  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island, 
and  Connecticut,  is  peopled  chiefly  by  English  descendants.  In 
the  State  of  New  York,  about  half  are  Dutch,  the  rest  English, 
Scotch,  and  Irish.  In  New  Jersey,  a  mixture  of  English  and 
Dutch,  with  some  Scotch  and  Irish.  In  Pennsylvania,  about  one- 
third  are  English,  another  Germans,  and  the  remainder  Scotch 
and  Irish,  with  some  Swedes.  Tlie  states  to  the  Southward  have 
a  greater  proportion  of  English  than  the  Middle  States,  but  in 
aU  of  them  there  is  a  mixture ;  and  besides  those  enumerated,  there 
are  a  considerable  number  of  French,  and  some  few  of  all  the 

232 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

tomed  to  different  forms  and  habits  of  govern- 
ment, speaking  different  languages,  and  more 
different  in  their  modes  of  worship,  it  would  ap- 
pear that  the  union  of  such  a  people  was  imprac- 
ticable ;  but  by  the  simple  operation  of  construct- 
ing government  on  the  principles  of  society  and 
the  rights  of  man,  every  difficulty  retires,  and  all 
the  parts  are  brought  into  cordial  unison.  There 
the  poor  are  not  oppressed,  the  rich  are  not  privi- 
leged. Industry  is  not  mortified  by  the  splendid 
extravagance  of  a  court  rioting  at  its  expense. 
Their  taxes  are  few,  because  their  government  is 
just;  and  as  there  is  nothing  to  render  them 
wretched,  there  is  nothing  to  engender  riots  and 
tumults. 

A  metaphysical  man,  like  Mr.  Burke,  would 
have  tortured  his  invention  to  discover  how  such  a 
people  could  be  governed.  He  would  have  sup- 
posed that  some  must  be  managed  by  fraud, 
others  by  force,  and  all  by  some  contrivance ;  that 
genius  must  be  hired  to  impose  upon  ignorance, 
and  show  and  parade  to  fascinate  the  vulgar. 
Lost  in  the  abundance  of  his  researches,  he  would 
have  resolved  and  re-resolved,  and  finally  over- 


European  nations,  lying  on  the  coast.  The  most  numerous  reli- 
gious denomination  is  the  Presbyterian;  but  no  one  sect  is  estab- 
lished above  another,  and  all  men  are  equally  citizens. 


IV-19 


233 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

looked  the  plain  and  easy  road  that  lay  directly 
before  him. 

One  of  the  great  advantages  of  the  American 
Revolution  has  been,  that  it  led  to  a  discovery  of 
the  principles,  and  laid  open  the  imposition,  of 
governments.  All  the  revolutions  till  then  had 
been  worked  within  the  atmosphere  of  a  court, 
and  never  on  the  great  floor  of  a  nation.  The 
parties  were  always  of  the  class  of  courtiers ;  and 
whatever  was  their  rage  for  reformation,  they 
carefully  preserved  that  fraud  of  the  profession. 

In  all  cases  they  took  care  to  represent  gov- 
ernment as  a  thing  made  up  of  mysteries,  which 
only  themselves  understood,  and  they  hid  from 
the  understanding  of  the  nation,  the  only  thing 
that  was  beneficial  to  know,  namely,  That  gov- 
ernment is  nothing  more  than  a  national  associa- 
tion  acting  on  the  principles  of  society. 

Having  thus  endeavored  to  show,  that  the 
social  and  civihzed  state  of  man  is  capable  of  per- 
forming within  itself,  almost  every  thing  neces- 
sary to  its  protection  and  government,  it  wiU  be 
proper,  on  the  other  hand,  to  take  a  review  of 
the  present  old  governments,  and  examine 
whether  their  principles  and  practise  are  corre- 
spondent thereto. 


234 


CHAPTER  II 

OF    THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    PRESENT    OLD 
GOVERNMENTS 

IT  is  impossible  that  such  governments  as  have 
hitherto  existed  in  the  world,  could  have 
commenced  by  any  other  means  than  a  total  vio- 
lation of  every  principle,  sacred  and  moral.  The 
obscurity  in  which  the  origin  of  all  the  present 
old  governments  is  buried,  implies  the  iniquity 
and  disgrace  with  which  they  began.  The  origin 
of  the  present  governments  of  America  and 
France  will  ever  be  remembered,  because  it  is 
honorable  to  record  it;  but  with  respect  to  the 
rest,  even  flattery  has  consigned  them  to  the 
tomb  of  time,  without  an  inscription. 

It  could  have  been  no  difficult  thing  in  the 
early  and  solitary  ages  of  the  world,  while  the 
chief  employment  of  men  was  that  of  attending 
flocks  and  herds,  for  a  banditti  of  ruffians  to 
overrun  a  country,  and  lay  it  under  contribu- 
tions. Their  power  being  thus  established,  the 
chief  of  the  band  contrived  to  lose  the  name  of 
robber  in  that  of  monarch;  and  hence  the  origin 
of  monarchy  and  kings. 

2S3 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

The  origin  of  the  government  of  England, 
so  far  as  relates  to  what  is  called  its  line  of  mon- 
archy, being  one  of  the  latest,  is  perhaps  the  best 
recorded.  The  hatred  which  the  Norman  inva- 
sion and  tyranny  begat,  must  have  been  deeply 
rooted  in  the  nation,  to  have  outlived  the  contriv- 
ance to  obliterate  it.  Though  not  a  courtier  will 
talk  of  the  curfew-bell,  not  a  village  in  England 
has  forgotten  it. 

Those  bands  of  robbers  having  parcelled  out 
the  world  and  divided  it  into  dominions,  began, 
as  is  naturally  the  case,  to  quarrel  with  each 
other.  What  at  first  was  obtained  by  violence, 
was  considered  by  others  as  lawful  to  be  taken, 
and  a  second  plunderer  succeeded  the  first. 
They  alternately  invaded  the  dominions  which 
each  had  assigned  to  himself,  and  the  brutality 
with  which  they  treated  each  other  explains  the 
original  character  of  monarchy.  It  was  ruffian 
torturing  ruffian. 

The  conqueror  considered  the  conquered,  not 
as  his  prisoner,  but  as  his  property.  He  led  him 
in  triumph,  rattling  in  chains,  and  doomed  him, 
at  pleasure,  to  slavery  or  death.  As  time  oblit- 
erated the  history  of  their  beginning,  their  suc- 
cessors assumed  new  appearances,  to  cut  off  the 
entail  of  their  disgrace,  but  their  principles  and 
236 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

objects  remained  the  same.  What  at  first  was 
plunder,  assumed  the  softer  name  of  revenue; 
and  the  power  originally  usurped,  they  affected 
to  inherit. 

From  such  beginning  of  governments,  what 
could  be  expected,  but  a  continual  system  of  war 
and  extortion?  It  has  established  itself  into  a 
trade.  The  vice  is  not  peculiar  to  one  more  than 
to  another,  but  is  the  common  principle  of  all. 
There  does  not  exist  within  such  government 
sufficient  stamina  whereon  to  ingraft  reforma- 
tion ;  and  the  shortest,  easiest,  and  most  effectual 
remedy,  is  to  begin  anew. 

What  scenes  of  horror,  what  perfection  of 
iniquity,  present  themselves  in  contemplating 
the  character,  and  reviewing  the  history  of  such 
governments!  If  we  would  delineate  human 
nature  with  a  baseness  of  heart,  and  hypocrisy  of 
countenance,  that  reflection  would  shudder  at 
and  humanity  disown,  it  is  kings,  courts,  and 
cabinets,  that  must  sit  for  the  portrait.  Man, 
naturally  as  he  is,  with  all  his  faults  about  him, 
is  not  up  to  the  character. 

Can  we  possibly  suppose  that  if  governments 
had  originated  in  a  right  principle,  and  had  not 
an  interest  in  pursuing  a  wrong  one,  that  the 
world  could  have  been  in  the  wretched  and  quar- 

237 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

relsome  condition  we  have  seen  it?  What  induce- 
ment has  the  farmer,  while  following  the  plough, 
to  lay  aside  his  peaceful  pursuit,  and  go  to  war 
with  the  farmer  of  another  country?  Or  what 
inducement  has  the  manufacturer?  What  is 
dominion  to  them,  or  to  any  class  of  men  in  a 
nation?  Does  it  add  an  acre  to  any  man's  estate, 
or  raise  its  value?  Are  not  conquest  and  defeat 
each  of  the  same  price,  and  taxes  the  never  fail- 
ing consequence?  Though  this  reasoning  may 
be  good  to  a  nation,  it  is  not  so  to  a  government. 
War  is  the  faro-table  of  governments,  and 
nations  the  dupes  of  the  games. 

If  there  is  any  thing  to  wonder  at  in  this  mis- 
erable scene  of  governments,  more  than  might 
be  expected,  it  is  the  progress  which  the  peace- 
ful arts  of  agriculture,  manufacture  and  com- 
merce have  made,  beneath  such  a  long  accumu- 
lating load  of  discouragement  and  oppression. 
It  serves  to  show,  that  instinct  in  animals  does 
not  act  with  stronger  impulse,  than  the  princi- 
ples of  society  and  civilization  operate  in  man. 
Under  all  discouragements,  he  pursues  his  ob- 
ject, and  yields  to  nothing  but  impossibilities. 


238 


CHAPTER  III 

OF  THE  OLD  AND  NEW  SYSTEMS  OF  GOVERNMENT 

NOTHING  can  appear  more  contradictory 
than  the  principles  on  which  the  old  gov- 
ernments began,  and  the  condition  to  which  so- 
ciety, civilization  and  commerce,  are  capable  of 
carrying  mankind.  Government  on  the  old  sys- 
tem is  an  assumption  of  power,  for  the  aggran- 
dizement of  itself;  on  the  new,  a  delegation  of 
power,  for  the  common  benefit  of  society.  The 
former  supports  itself  by  keeping  up  a  system 
of  war ;  the  latter  promotes  a  system  of  peace,  as 
the  true  means  of  enriching  a  nation.  The  one 
encourages  national  prejudices;  the  other  pro- 
motes universal  society,  as  the  means  of  universal 
commerce.  The  one  measures  its  prosperity,  by 
the  quantity  of  revenue  it  extorts;  the  other 
proves  its  excellence,  by  the  small  quantity  of 
taxes  it  requires. 

Mr.  Burke  has  talked  of  old  and  new  Whigs. 
If  he  can  amuse  himself  with  childish  names  and 
distinctions,  I  shall  not  interrupt  his  pleasure.  It 
is  not  to  him,  but  to  Abbe  Sieyes,  that  I  address 
this  chapter.  I  am  already  engaged  to  the  latter 
gentleman,  to  discuss  the  subject  of  monarchical 

239 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

government;  and  as  it  naturally  occurs  in  com- 
paring the  old  and  new  systems,  I  make  this  the 
opportunity  of  presenting  to  him  my  observa- 
tions. I  shall  occasionally  take  Mr.  Burke  in  my 
way. 

Though  it  might  be  proved  that  the  system 
of  government  now  called  the  new^  is  the  most 
ancient  in  principle  of  all  that  have  existed,  being 
founded  on  the  original  inherent  Rights  of  Man: 
yet,  as  tyranny  and  the  sword  have  suspended 
the  exercise  of  those  rights  for  many  centuries 
past,  it  serves  better  the  purpose  of  distinction  to 
call  it  a  neWj  than  to  claim  the  right  of  calling  it 
the  old. 

The  first  general  distinction  between  those 
two  systems  is,  that  the  one  now  called  the  old  is 
hereditary  J  either  in  whole  or  in  part;  and  the 
new  is  entirely  representative.  It  rejects  all 
hereditary  government : 

First,  as  being  an  imposition  on  mankind. 

Secondly,  as  being  inadequate  to  the  purposes 
for  which  government  is  necessary. 

With  respect  to  the  first  of  these  heads.  It 
cannot  be  proved  by  what  right  hereditary  gov- 
ernment could  begin:  neither  does  there  exist 
within  the  compass  of  mortal  power  a  right  to 
establish  it.    Man  has  no  authority  over  posterity 

240 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

in  matters  of  personal  right;  and  therefore,  no 
man,  or  body  of  men,  had,  or  can  have,  a  right 
to  set  up  hereditary  government.  Were  even 
ourselves  to  come  again  into  existence,  instead  of 
being  succeeded  by  posterity,  we  have  not  now, 
the  right  of  taking  from  ourselves  the  rights 
which  would  then  be  ours.  On  what  ground, 
then,  do  we  pretend  to  take  them  from  others? 

All  hereditary  government  is  in  its  nature 
tyranny.  An  heritable  crown,  or  an  heritable 
throne,  or  by  what  other  fanciful  name  such 
things  may  be  called,  have  no  other  significant 
explanation  than  that  mankind  are  heritable 
property.  To  inherit  a  government,  is  to  in- 
herit the  people,  as  if  they  were  flocks  and  herds. 

With  respect  to  the  second  head,  that  of 
being  inadequate  to  the  purposes  for  which  gov- 
ernment is  necessary,  we  have  only  to  consider 
what  government  essentiallj''  is,  and  compare  it 
with  the  circumstances  to  which  hereditary  suc- 
cession is  subject.  Government  ought  to  be  a 
thing  always  in  maturity.  It  ought  to  be  so  con- 
structed as  to  be  superior  to  all  the  accidents  to 
which  individual  man  is  subject;  and  therefore, 
hereditary  succession,  by  being  subject  to  them 
all,  is  the  most  irregular  and  imperfect  of  all  the 
systems  of  government. 

241 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

We  have  heard  the  Rights  of  Man  called  a 
levelling  system;  but  the  only  system  to  which 
the  word  levelling  is  truly  applicable,  is  the  hered- 
itary monarchical  system.  It  is  a  system  of  men- 
tal levelling.  It  indiscriminately  admits  every 
species  of  character  to  the  same  authority,  Vice 
and  virtue,  ignorance  and  wisdom,  in  short,  every 
quality,  good  or  bad,  is  put  on  the  same  level. 
Kings  succeed  each  other,  not  as  rationals,  but 
as  animals.  It  signifies  not  what  then*  mental  or 
moral  characters  are. 

Can  we  then  be  surprised  at  the  abject  state 
of  the  human  mind  in  monarchical  countries, 
when  the  government  itself  is  formed  on  such  an 
abject  levelling  system?  It  has  no  fixed  char- 
acter. To-day  it  is  one  thing;  to-morrow  it  is 
something  else.  It  changes  with  the  temper  of 
every  succeeding  individual,  and  is  subject  to 
all  the  varieties  of  each.  It  is  government 
through  the  medium  of  passions  and  accidents. 

It  appears  under  all  the  various  characters  of 
childhood,  decrepitude,  dotage,  a  thing  at  nurse, 
in  leading-strings,  or  on  crutches.  It  reverses  the 
wholesome  order  of  nature.  It  occasionally  puts 
children  over  men,  and  the  conceits  of  non-age 
over  wisdom  and  experience.  In  short,  we  can- 
not conceive  a  more  ridiculous  figure  of  govern- 
242 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

ment  than  hereditary  succession,  in  all  its  cases, 
presents. 

Could  it  be  made  a  decree  in  nature,  or  an 
edict  registered  in  heaven,  and  man  could  know 
it,  that  virtue  and  wisdom  should  invariably  ap- 
pertain to  hereditary  succession,  the  objections  to 
it  would  be  removed ;  but  when  we  see  that  nature 
acts  as  if  she  disowned  and  sported  with  the 
hereditary  system;  that  the  mental  characters  of 
successors,  in  all  countries,  are  below  the  average 
of  human  understanding;  that  one  is  a  tyrant, 
another  an  idiot,  a  third  insane,  and  some  all 
three  together,  it  is  impossible  to  attach  con- 
fidence to  it,  when  reason  in  man  has  power  to 
act. 

It  is  not  to  the  Abbe  Sieyes  that  I  need  apply 
this  reasoning ;  he  has  already  saved  me  that  trou- 
ble, by  giving  his  own  opinion  upon  the  case. 
"If  it  be  asked,"  says  he,  "what  is  my  opinion 
with  respect  to  hereditary  right,  I  answer,  with- 
out hesitation,  that,  in  good  theory,  an  hereditary 
transmission  of  any  power  or  office,  can  never 
accord  with  the  laws  of  a  true  representation. 
Hereditaryship  is,  in  this  sense,  as  much  an  at- 
taint upon  principle,  as  an  outrage  upon  society. 
But  let  us,"  continues  he,  "refer  to  the  history 
of  all  elective  monarchies  and  principahties :  is 

24)3 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

there  one  in  which  the  elective  mode  is  not  worse 
than  the  hereditary  succession?" 

As  to  debating  on  which  is  the  worst  of  the 
two,  is  admitting  both  to  be  bad;  and  herein  we 
are  agreed.  The  preference  which  the  Abbe  has 
given,  is  a  condemnation  of  the  thing  he  prefers. 
Such  a  mode  of  reasoning  on  such  a  subject  is 
inadmissible,  because  it  finally  amounts  to  an 
accusation  upon  Providence,  as  if  she  had  left 
to  man  no  other  choice  with  respect  to  govern- 
ment than  between  two  evils,  the  best  of  which 
he  admits  to  be  "an  attaint  upon  'principle^  and 
an  outrage  upon  society.'' 

Passing  over,  for  the  present,  all  the  evils  and 
mischiefs  which  monarchy  has  occasioned  in  the 
world,  nothing  can  more  effectually  prove  its 
uselessness  in  a  state  of  civil  government,  than 
making  it  hereditary.  Would  we  make  any  of- 
fice hereditary  that  required  wisdom  and  abilities 
to  fill  it?  And  where  wisdom  and  abilities  are 
not  necessary,  such  an  office,  whatever  it  may 
be,  is  superfluous  or  insignificant. 

Hereditary  succession  is  a  burlesque  upon 
monarchy.  It  puts  it  in  the  most  ridiculous  light, 
by  presenting  it  as  an  office,  which  any  child  or 
idiot  may  fill.  It  requires  some  talents  to  be  a 
common  mechanic;  but  to  be  a  king,  requires 
244 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

only  the  animal  figure  of  a  man — a  sort  of 
breathing  automaton.  This  sort  of  superstition 
may  last  a  few  years  more,  but  it  cannot  long 
resist  the  awakened  reason  and  interest  of  man. 

As  to  Mr.  Burke,  he  is  a  stickler  for  mon- 
archy, not  altogether  as  a  pensioner,  if  he  is  one, 
which  I  believe,  but  as  a  political  man.  He  has 
taken  up  a  contemptible  opinion  of  mankind, 
who  in  their  turn,  are  taking  up  the  same  of  him. 
He  considers  them  as  a  herd  of  beings  that  must 
be  governed  by  fraud,  effigy,  and  show;  and  an 
idol  would  be  as  good  a  figure  of  monarchy  with 
him,  as  a  man.  I  will,  however,  do  him  the  jus- 
tice to  say,  that,  with  respect  to  America,  he  has 
been  very  complimentary.  He  always  con- 
tended, at  least  in  my  hearing,  that  the  people  of 
America  are  more  enlightened  than  those  of 
England,  or  of  any  other  country  in  Europe; 
and  that  therefore  the  imposition  of  show  was 
not  necessary  in  their  government. 

Though  the  comparison  between  hereditary 
and  elective  monarchy,  which  the  Abbe  has  made, 
is  unnecessary  to  the  case,  because  the  representa- 
tive system  rejects  both;  yet,  were  I  to  make  the 
comparison,  I  should  decide  contrary  to  what  he 
has  done. 

The  civil  wars  which  have  originated  from 

245 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

contested  hereditary  claims  are  numerous,  and 
have  been  more  dreadful,  and  of  longer  contin- 
uance, than  those  which  have  been  occasioned  by 
election.  All  the  civil  wars  in  France  arose  from 
the  hereditary  system ;  they  were  either  produced 
by  hereditary  claims,  or  by  the  imperfection  of 
the  hereditary  form,  which  admits  of  regencies, 
or  monarchies  at  nurse. 

With  respect  to  England,  its  history  is  full 
of  the  same  misfortunes.  The  contests  for  suc- 
cession between  the  houses  of  York  and  Lancas- 
ter, lasted  a  whole  century;  and  others  of  a  sim- 
ilar nature,  have  renewed  themselves  since  that 
period.  Those  of  1715  and  1745,  were  of  the 
same  kind.  The  Succession-war  for  the  crown 
of  Spain,  embroiled  almost  half  of  Europe.  The 
disturbances  in  Holland  are  generated  from  the 
hereditaryship  of  the  stadtholder.  A  govern- 
ment calling  itself  free,  with  an  hereditary  office, 
is  hke  a  thorn  in  the  flesh,  that  produces  a  fer- 
mentation which  endeavors  to  discharge  it. 

But  I  might  go  further,  and  place  also  for- 
eign wars,  of  whatever  kind,  to  the  same  cause. 
It  is  by  adding  the  evil  of  hereditary  succession 
to  that  of  monarchy,  that  a  permanent  family 
interest  is  created,  whose  constant  objects  are 
dominion  and  revenue.  Poland,  though  an  elect- 
246 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

ive  monarchy,  has  had  fewer  wars  than  those 
which  are  hereditary;  and  it  is  the  only  govern- 
ment that  has  made  a  voluntary  essay,  though 
but  a  small  one,  to  reform  the  condition  of  the 
country. 

Having  thus  glanced  at  a  few  of  the  defects 
of  the  old,  or  hereditary  system  of  government, 
let  us  compare  it  with  the  new,  or  representative 
system. 

The  representative  system  takes  society  and 
civilization  for  its  basis;  nature,  reason,  and  ex- 
perience for  its  guide. 

Experience,  in  all  ages,  and  in  all  countries, 
has  demonstrated,  that  it  is  impossible  to  control 
Nature  in  her  distribution  of  mental  powers. 
She  gives  them  as  she  pleases.  Whatever  is  the 
rule  by  which  she,  apparently  to  us,  scatters  them 
among  mankind,  that  rule  remains  a  secret  to 
man.  It  would  be  as  ridiculous  to  attempt  to 
fix  the  hereditaryship  of  human  beauty,  as  of 
wisdom. 

Whatever  wisdom  constituently  is,  it  is  like 
a  seedless  plant;  it  may  be  reared  when  it  ap- 
pears, but  it  cannot  be  voluntarily  produce.d. 
There  is  always  a  sufficiency  somewhere  in  the 
general  mass  of  society  for  all  purposes ;  but  with 
respect  to  the  parts  of  society,  it  is  continually 

247 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

changing  its  place.  It  rises  in  one  to-day,  in 
another  to-morrow,  and  has  most  probably  vis- 
ited in  rotation  every  family  of  the  earth,  and 
again  withdrawn. 

As  this  is  the  order  of  nature,  the  order  ofi 
government  must  necessarily  follow  it,  or  gov- 
ernment will,  as  we  see  it  does,  degenerate  into 
ignorance.  The  hereditary  system,  therefore,  is 
as  repugnant  to  human  wisdom,  as  to  human 
rights,  and  is  as  absurd,  as  it  is  unjust. 

As  the  republic  of  letters  brings  forward  the 
best  literary  productions,  by  giving  to  genius  a 
fair  and  universal  chance;  so  the  representative 
system  of  government  is  calculated  to  produce 
the  wisest  laws,  by  collecting  wisdom  where  it  can 
be  found.  I  smile  to  myself  when  I  contemplate 
the  ridiculous  insignificance  into  which  literature 
and  all  the  sciences  would  sink,  were  they  made 
hereditary;  and  I  carry  the  same  idea  into  gov- 
ernments. An  hereditary  governor  is  as  incon- 
sistent as  an  hereditary  author.  I  know  not 
whether  Homer  or  Euclid  had  sons;  but  I  will 
venture  an  opinion,  that  if  they  had,  and  had 
left  their  works  unfinished,  those  sons  could  not 
have  completed  them. 

Do  we  need  a  stronger  evidence  of  the  ab- 
surdity of  hereditary  government,  than  is  seen 
248 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

in  the  descendants  of  those  men,  in  any  hne  of 
life,  who  once  were  famous?  Is  there  scarcely 
an  instance  in  which  there  is  not  a  total  reverse 
of  character?  It  appears  as  if  the  tide  of  mental 
faculties  flowed  as  far  as  it  could  in  certain  chan- 
nels, and  then  forsook  its  course,  and  arose  in 
others.  How  irrational  then  is  the  hereditary 
system  which  establishes  channels  of  power,  in 
company  with  which  wisdom  refuses  to  flow !  By 
continuing  this  absurdity,  man  is  perpetually 
in  contradiction  with  himself;  he  accepts,  for  a 
king,  or  a  chief  magistrate,  or  a  legislator,  a  per- 
son whom  he  would  not  elect  for  a  constable. 

It  appears  to  general  observation,  that  revo- 
lutions create  genius  and  talents ;  but  those  events 
do  no  more  than  bring  them  forward.  There  is 
existing  in  man,  a  mass  of  sense  lying  in  a  dor- 
mant state,  and  which,  unless  something  excites 
it  to  action,  will  descend  with  him,  in  that  con- 
dition, to  the  grave.  As  it  is  to  the  advantage  of 
society  that  the  whole  of  its  faculties  should  be 
employed,  the  construction  of  government  ought 
to  be  such  as  to  bring  forward,  by  a  quiet  and 
regular  operation,  all  that  extent  of  capacity 
which  never  fails  to  appear  in  revolutions. 

This  cannot  take  place  in  the  insipid  state  of 
hereditary  government,  not  only  because  it  pre- 

IV.20  249 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

vents,  but  because  it  operates  to  benumb.  When 
the  mind  of  a  nation  is  bowed  down  by  any  politi- 
cal superstition  in  its  government,  such  as  heredi- 
tary succession  is,  it  loses  a  considerable  portion 
of  its  powers  on  all  other  subjects  and  objects. 

Hereditary  succession  requires  the  same  obe- 
dience to  ignorance,  as  to  wisdom;  and  when 
once  the  mind  can  bring  itself  to  pay  this  indis- 
criminate reverence,  it  descends  below  the  stat- 
ure of  mental  manhood.  It  is  fit  to  be  great 
only  in  little  things.  It  acts  a  treachery  upon 
itself,  and  suiFocates  the  sensations  that  urge  to 
detection. 

Though  the  ancient  governments  present  to 
us  a  miserable  picture  of  the  condition  of  man, 
there  is  one  which  above  all  others  exempts  itself 
from  the  general  description.  I  mean  the  democ- 
racy of  the  Athenians.  We  see  more  to  admire, 
and  less  to  condemn,  in  that  great,  extraordinary 
people,  than  in  any  thing  which  history  affords. 

Mr.  Burke  is  so  little  acquainted  with  con- 
stituent principles  of  government,  that  he  con- 
founds democracy  and  representation  together. 
Representation  was  a  thing  unknown  in  the  an- 
cient democracies.  In  those  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple met  and  enacted  laws  (grammatically  speak- 
ing) in  the  first  person. 
250 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

Simple  democracy  was  no  other  than  the  com- 
mon hall  of  the  ancients.  It  signifies  the  form,  as 
well  as  the  public  principle  of  the  government. 
As  these  democracies  increased  in  population, 
and  the  territory  extended,  the  simple  democrati- 
cal  form  became  unwieldy  and  impracticable ;  and 
as  the  system  of  representation  was  not  known, 
the  consequence  was,  they  either  degenerated 
convulsively  into  monarchies,  or  became  absorbed 
into  such  as  then  existed. 

Had  the  system  of  representation  been  then 
understood,  as  it  now  is,  there  is  no  reason  to 
believe  that  those  forms  of  government,  now 
called  monarchical  and  aristrocratical,  would  ever 
have  taken  place.  It  was  the  want  of  some 
method  to  consolidate  the  parts  of  society,  after 
it  became  too  populous,  and  too  extensive  for 
the  simple  democratical  form,  and  also  the  lax 
and  solitary  condition  of  shepherds  and  herds- 
men in  other  parts  of  the  world,  that  afforded 
opportunities  to  those  unnatural  modes  of  gov- 
ernment to  begin. 

As  it  is  necessary  to  clear  away  the  rubbish 
of  errors,  into  which  the  subject  of  government 
has  been  thrown,  I  shall  proceed  to  remark  on 
some  others. 

It  has  always  been  the  political  craft  of  cour- 

251 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

tiers  and  court-governments,  to  abuse  something 
which  they  called  republicanism ;  but  what  repub- 
licanism was,  or  is,  they  never  attempt  to  explain. 
Let  us  examine  a  little  into  this  case. 

The  only  forms  of  government  are,  the  dem- 
ocratical,  the  aristrocratical,  the  monarchical,  and 
what  is  now  called  the  representative. 

What  is  called  a  re  public  ^  is  not  any  particular 
form  of  government.  It  is  wholly  character- 
istical  of  the  purport,  matter,  or  object  for  which 
government  ought  to  be  instituted,  and  on  which 
it  is  to  be  employed,  res-puhlica,  the  public  af- 
fairs, or  the  public  good;  or,  literally  translated, 
the  public  thing. 

It  is  a  word  of  a  good  original,  referring  to 
what  ought  to  be  the  character  and  business  of 
government;  and  in  this  sense  it  is  naturally 
opposed  to  the  word  monarchy,  which  has  a  base 
original  signification.  It  means  arbitrary  power 
in  an  individual  person;  in  the  exercise  of  which, 
himself  J  and  not  the  res-publica,  is  the  object. 

Every  government  that  does  not  act  on  the 
principle  of  a  republic,  or  in  other  words,  that 
does  not  make  the  res-publica  its  whole  and  sole 
object,  is  not  a  good  government.  Republican 
government  is  no  other  than  government  estab- 
lished and  conducted  for  the  interest  of  the  pub- 
252 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

lie,  as  well  individually  as  collectively.  It  is  not 
necessarily  connected  with  any  particular  form, 
but  it  most  naturally  associates  with  the  repre- 
sentative form,  as  being  best  calculated  to  secure 
the  end  for  which  a  nation  is  at  the  expense  of 
supporting  it. 

Various  forms  of  government  have  affected 
to  style  themselves  a  republic.  Poland  calls  itself 
a  republic,  which  is  an  hereditary  aristocracy, 
with  what  is  called  an  elective  monarchy.  Hol- 
land calls  itself  a  republic  which  is  cliiefly  aris- 
tocratical,  with  an  hereditary  stadtholdership. 

Eut  the  government  of  America,  which  is 
wholly  on  the  system  of  representation,  is  the 
only  real  republic  in  character  and  practise,  that 
now  exists.  Its  government  has  no  other  object 
than  the  public  business  of  the  nation,  and  there- 
fore it  is  properly  a  republic ;  and  the  Americans 
have  taken  care  that  this^  and  no  other,  shall 
always  be  the  object  of  the  government,  by  their 
rejecting  everything  hereditary,  and  establishing 
government  on  the  system  of  representation  only. 

Those  who  have  said  that  a  republic  is  not  a 
form  of  government  calculated  for  countries  of 
great  extent,  mistook,  in  the  first  place,  the  busi- 
ness of  a  government  for  a  form  of  government ; 
for  the  res-publica  equally  appertains  to  every 

253 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

extent  of  territory  and  population.  And,  in  the 
second  place,  if  they  meant  any  thing  with  re- 
spect to  form,  it  was  the  simple  democratical 
form,  such  as  was  the  mode  of  government  in  the 
ancient  democracies,  in  which  there  was  no  repre- 
sentation. The  case  therefore,  is  not,  that  a  re- 
public cannot  be  extensive,  but  that  it  cannot  be 
extensive  on  the  simple  democratical  form;  and 
the  question  naturally  presents  itself.  What  is  the 
best  form  of  government  for  conducting  the  res- 
puBLiCAj  or  the  public  business  of  a  nation, 
after  it  becomes  too  extensive  and  populous  for 
the  simple  dejuocratical  form? 

It  cannot  be  monarchy,  because  monarchy  is 
subject  to  an  objection  of  the  same  amount  to 
which  the  simple  democratical  form  was  subject. 

It  is  possible  that  an  individual  may  lay  down 
a  system  of  principles,  on  which  government 
shall  be  constitutionally  established  to  any  extent 
of  territory.  This  is  no  more  than  an  operation 
of  the  mind,  acting  by  its  own  powers.  But  the 
practise  uj)on  those  principles,  as  applying  to  the 
various  and  numerous  circumstances  of  a  nation, 
its  agriculture,  manufacture,  trade,  commerce, 
etc.,  requires  a  knowledge  of  a  different  kind, 
and  which  can  be  had  only  from  the  various  parts 
of  society. 

254  .  i 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

It  is  an  assemblage  of  practical  knowledge, 
which  no  one  individual  can  possess;  and  there- 
fore the  monarchical  form  is  as  much  limited,  in 
useful  practise,  from  the  incompetency  of  knowl- 
edge, as  was  the  democratical  form,  from  the 
multiplying  of  population.  The  one  degener- 
ates, by  extension,  into  confusion ;  the  other,  into 
ignorance  and  incapacity,  of  which  all  the  great 
monarchies  are  an  evidence.  The  monarchical 
form,  therefore,  could  not  be  a  substitute  for  the 
democratical,  because  it  has  equal  inconveniences. 

Much  less  could  it  when  made  hereditary. 
This  is  the  most  effectual  of  all  forms  to  preclude 
knowledge.  Neither  could  the  high  democratical 
mind  have  voluntarily  yielded  itself  to  be  gov- 
erned by  children  and  idiots,  and  all  the  motley 
insignificance  of  character,  which  attends  such  a 
mere  animal  system,  the  disgrace  and  the  re- 
proach of  reason  and  of  man. 

As  to  the  aristrocratical  form,  it  has  the  same 
vices  and  defects  with  the  monarchical,  except 
that  the  chance  of  abilities  is  better  from  the  pro- 
portion of  numbers,  but  there  is  still  no  security 
for  the  right  use  and  application  of  them.* 

Referring,  then,  to  the  original  simple 
democracy,  it  affords  the  true  data  from  which 

*For   a   character   of   aristocracy,   the   reader   is   referred   to 
"  Rights  of  Man,"  Part  I.,  page  80  et  seq. 

255 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

government  on  a  large  scale  can  begin.  It  is  in- 
capable of  extension,  not  from  its  principle,  but 
from  the  inconvenience  of  its  form;  and  mon- 
archy and  aristocracy,  from  their  incapacity. 
Retaining,  then,  democracy  as  the  ground,  and 
rejecting  the  corrupt  systems  of  monarchy  and 
aristocracy,  the  representative  system  naturally 
presents  itself;  remedying  at  once  the  defects 
of  the  simple  democracy  as  to  form,  and  the  in- 
capacity of  the  other  two  with  respect  to  knowl- 
edge. 

Simple  democracy  was  society  governing 
itself  without  the  aid  of  secondary  means.  By 
ingrafting  representation  upon  democracy,  we 
arrive  at  a  system  of  government  capable  of  em- 
bracing and  confederating  all  the  various  inter- 
ests and  every  extent  of  territory  and  population ; 
and  that  also  with  advantages  as  much  superior 
to  hereditary  government,  as  the  republic  of  let- 
ters is  to  hereditary  literature. 

It  is  on  this  system  that  the  American  gov- 
ernment is  founded.  It  is  representation  in- 
grafted upon  democracy.  It  has  fixed  the  form 
by  a  scale  parallel  in  all  cases  to  the  extent  of 
the  principle.  What  Athens  was  in  miniature, 
America  will  be  in  magnitude.  The  one  was  the 
wonder  of  the  ancient  world;  the  other  is  becom- 
256 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

ing  the  admiration  and  model  of  the  present.  It 
is  the  easiest  of  all  the  forms  of  government  to 
be  understood,  and  the  most  eligible  in  practise; 
and  excludes  at  once  the  ignorance  and  insecurity 
of  the  hereditary  mode,  and  the  inconvenience  of 
the  simple  democracy. 

It  is  impossible  to  conceive  a  system  of  gov- 
ernment capable  of  acting  over  such  an  extent  of 
territory,  and  such  a  circle  of  interests,  as  is  im- 
mediately produced  by  the  operation  of  repre- 
sentation. France,  great  and  popular  as  it  is, 
is  but  a  spot  in  the  capaciousness  of  the  system. 
It  adapts  itself  to  all  possible  cases.  It  is  pre- 
ferable to  simple  democracy  even  in  small  ter- 
ritories. Athens,  by  representation,  would  have 
outrivalled  her  own  democracy. 

That  which  is  called  government,  or  rather 
that  which  we  ought  to  conceive  government  to 
be,  is  no  more  than  some  common  center,  in  which 
all  the  parts  of  society  unite.  This  cannot  be 
accomplished  by  any  method  so  conducive  to  the 
various  interests  of  the  community,  as  by  the  rep- 
resentative system. 

It  concentrates  the  knowledge  necessary  to 
the  interests  of  the  parts,  and  of  the  whole.  It 
places  government  in  a  state  of  constant  ma- 
turity.   It  is,  as  has  been  already  observed,  never 

257 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

young,  never  old.  It  is  subject  neither  to  non- 
age, nor  dotage.  It  is  never  in  the  cradle,  nor 
on  crutches.  It  admits  not  of  a  separation  be- 
tween knowledge  and  power,  and  is  superior,  as 
government  always  ought  to  be,  to  all  the  acci- 
dents of  individual  man,  and  is  therefore  superior 
to  what  is  called  monarchy. 

A  nation  is  not  a  body,  the  figure  of  which  is 
to  be  represented  by  the  human  body ;  but  is  like 
a  body  contained  within  a  circle,  having  a  com- 
mon center,  in  which  every  radius  meets;  and 
that  center  is  formed  by  representation.  To  con- 
nect representation  with  what  is  called  monarchy, 
is  eccentric  government.  Representation  is  of 
itself  the  delegated  monarchy  of  a  nation,  and 
cannot  debase  itself  by  dividing  it  with  another. 

Mr.  Burke  has  two  or  three  times,  in  his  par- 
liamentary speeches,  and  in  his  publications, 
made  use  of  a  jingle  of  words  that  convey  no 
ideas.  Speaking  of  government,  he  says,  "it  is 
better  to  have  monarchy  for  its  basis,  and  repub- 
licanism for  its  corrective,  than  republicanism 
for  its  basis,  and  monarchy  for  its  corrective." 
If  he  means  that  it  is  better  to  correct  folly  with 
wisdom,  than  wisdom  with  folly,  I  will  not  other- 
wise contend  with  him,  than  that  it  would  be 
much  better  to  reject  the  folly  entirely. 
258 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

But  what  is  this  thing  that  Mr.  Burke  calls 
monarchy?  Will  he  explain  it?  All  men  can 
understand  what  representation  is;  and  that  it 
must  necessarily  include  a  variety  of  knowledge 
and  talents.  But  what  security  is  there  for  the 
same  qualities  on  the  part  of  monarchy?  Or, 
when  this  monarchy  is  a  child,  where  then  is  the 
wisdom?  What  does  it  know  about  government? 
Who  then  is  the  monarch,  or  where  is  the  mon- 
arch}^? If  it  is  to  be  performed  by  regency,  it 
proves  to  be  a  farce. 

A  regency  is  a  mock  species  of  republic,  and 
the  whole  of  monarchy  deserves  no  better  descrip- 
tion. It  is  a  thing  as  various  as  imagination  can 
paint.  It  has  none  of  the  stable  character  that 
government  ought  to  possess.  Every  succession 
is  a  revolution,  and  every  regency  a  counter-revo- 
lution. The  whole  of  it  is  a  scene  of  perpetual 
court  cabal  and  intrigue,  of  which  Mr.  Burke  is 
himself  an  instance. 

To  render  monarchy  consistent  with  govern- 
ment, the  next  in  succession  should  not  be  born 
a  child,  but  a  man  at  once,  and  that  man  a  Sol- 
omon. It  is  ridiculous  that  nations  are  to  wait, 
and  government  be  interrupted,  till  boys  grow  to 
be  men. 

Whether  I  have  too  little  sense  to  see,  or  too 

259 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

much  to  be  imposed  upon;  whether  I  have  too 
much  or  too  httle  pride,  or  of  anything  else,  I 
leave  out  of  the  question;  but  certain  it  is,  that 
what  is  called  monarchy,  always  appears  to  me  a 
silly,  contemptible  thing.  I  compare  it  to  some- 
thing kept  behind  a  curtain,  about  which  there  is 
a  great  deal  of  bustle  and  fuss,  and  a  wonderful 
air  of  seeming  solemnity;  but  when,  by  any  acci- 
dent, the  curtain  happens  to  open,  and  the  com- 
pany see  what  it  is,  they  burst  into  laughter. 

In  the  representative  system  of  government, 
nothing  of  this  can  happen.  Like  the  nation 
itself,  it  possesses  a  perpetual  stamina,  as  well  of 
body  as  of  mind,  and  presents  itself  on  the  open 
theater  of  the  world  in  a  fair  and  manly  manner. 
Whatever  are  its  excellencies  or  its  defects,  they 
are  visible  to  all.  It  exists  not  by  fraud  and 
mystery;  it  deals  not  in  cant  and  sophistry;  but 
inspires  a  language,  that,  passing  from  heart  to 
heart,  is  felt  and  understood. 

•  We  must  shut  our  eyes  against  reason,  we 
must  basely  degrade  our  understanding,  not  to 
see  the  folly  of  what  is  called  monarchy.  Nature 
is  orderly  in  all  her  works ;  but  this  is  a  mode  of 
government  that  counteracts  nature.  It  turns 
the  progress  of  the  human  faculties  upside 
down.  It  subjects  age  to  be  governed  by  chil- 
260 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

dren,  and  wisdom  by  folly.  On  the  contrary,  the 
representative  system  is  always  parallel  with  the 
order  and  immutable  laws  of  nature,  and  meets 
the  reason  of  man  in  every  part.    For  example: 

In  the  American  Federal  Government,  more 
power  is  delegated  to  the  President  of  the  Unit- 
ed States,  than  to  any  other  individual  member  of 
Congress.  He  cannot,  therefore,  be  elected  to 
this  office  under  the  age  of  thirty-five  j^ears.  By 
this  time  the  judgment  of  man  becomes  matured, 
and  he  has  lived  long  enough  to  be  acquainted 
with  men  and  things,  and  the  country  with  him. 

But  on  the  monarchial  plan,  (exclusive  of  the 
numerous  chances  there  are  against  every  man 
born  into  the  world,  of  drawing  a  prize  in  the 
lottery  of  human  faculties),  the  next  in  succes- 
sion, whatever  he  may  be,  is  put  at  the  head  of  a 
nation,  and  of  a  government,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  years. 

Does  this  appear  like  an  act  of  wisdom?  Is 
it  consistent  with  the  proper  dignity  and  the 
manly  character  of  a  nation?  Where  is  the  pro- 
priety of  calling  such  a  lad  the  father  of  the 
people?  In  all  other  cases,  a  person  is  a  minor 
until  the  age  of  twenty-one  years.  Before  this 
period,  he  is  not  trusted  with  the  management 
of  an  acre  of  land,  or  with  the  heritable  property 

261 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

of  a  flock  of  sheep,  or  an  herd  of  swine;  but, 
wonderful  to  tell!  he  may,  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
years,  be  trusted  with  a  nation. 

That  monarchy  is  all  a  bubble,  a  mere  court 
artifice  to  procure  money,  is  evident,  (at  least  to 
me) ,  in  every  character  in  which  it  can  be  viewed. 
It  would  be  impossible,  on  the  rational  system 
of  representative  government,  to  make  out  a  bill 
of  expenses  to  such  an  enormous  amount  as  this 
deception  admits.  Government  is  not  of  itself  a 
very  chargeable  institution.  The  whole  expense 
of  the  Federal  Government  of  America,  founded, 
as  I  have  already  said,  on  the  system  of  repre- 
sentation, and  extending  over  a  country  nearly 
ten  times  as  large  as  England,  is  but  six  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  or  one  hundred  and  thirty  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling. 

I  presume,  that  no  man  in  his  sober  senses 
will  compare  the  character  of  any  of  the  kings 
of  Europe  with  that  of  General  Washington. 
Yet,  in  France,  and  also  in  England,  the  expense 
of  the  civil  hst  only,  for  the  support  of  one  man, 
is  eight  times  greater  than  the  whole  expense  of 
the  Federal  Government  in  America.  To  assign 
a  reason  for  this,  appears  almost  impossible.  The 
generality  of  people  in  America,  especially  the 
poor,  are  more  able  to  pay  taxes,  than  the  gen- 
262 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

erality  of  people  either  in  France  or  England. 
But  the  case  is,  that  the  representative  system 
diffuses  such  a  body  of  knowledge  throughout  a 
nation,  on  the  subject  of  government,  as  to  ex- 
plode ignorance  and  preclude  imposition.  The 
craft  of  courts  cannot  be  acted  on  that  ground. 
There  is  no  place  for  mystery ;  nowhere  for  it  to 
begin.  Those  who  are  not  in  the  representation, 
know  as  much  of  the  nature  of  business  as  those 
who  are.  An  affectation  of  mysterious  impor- 
tance would  there  be  scouted.  Nations  can  have 
no  secrets;  and  the  secrets  of  courts,  like  those 
of  individuals,  are  always  their  defects. 

In  the  representative  system,  the  reason  for 
every  thing  must  publicly  appear.  Every  man 
is  a  proprietor  in  government  and  considers  it  a 
necessary  part  of  his  business  to  understand.  It 
concerns  his  interest,  because  it  affects  his  prop- 
erty. He  examines  the  cost,  and  compares  it  with 
the  advantages;  and  above  all,  he  does  not  adopt 
the  slavish  custom  of  following  what  in  other 
governments  are  called  leadees. 

It  can  only  be  by  blinding  the  understanding 
of  man,  and  making  him  believe  that  government 
is  some  wonderful  mysterious  thing,  that  exces- 
sive revenues  are  obtained.  Monarchy  is  well 
calculated  to  ensure  this  end.    It  is  the  popery  of 

263 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

government ;  a  thing  kept  up  to  amuse  the  ignor- 
ant, and  quiet  them  into  paying  taxes. 

The  government  of  a  free  country,  properly 
speaking,  is  not  in  the  persons,  but  in  the  laws. 
The  enacting  of  those  requires  no  great  expense ; 
and  when  they  are  administered,  the  whole  of 
civil  government  is  performed — the  rest  is  all 
court  contrivance. 


264 


S  OF  THOMAS  PAINTS 

fi  c  ivcpt  up  to  a.  ignor- 

aui;  I  u:.u J  into  paying  taxes. 

rnment  of  a  free  country,  propt  i  ly 

not  in  the  persons,  but  in  the  lav,s. 

ting  of  those  requires  no  great  expense; 

vvhen  they  are  administered,  the  whole  of 

government  is  performed — the  rest  is  all 

court  contrivance. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

Photogravure   from   the   Origirnjl   Painting   by   Gilbert 
Stuart  in  the  Museum  of  Fine  Arts,  Boston 


264 


CHAPTER  IV 

ON  CONSTITUTIONS 

THAT  men  mean  distinct  and  separate 
things  when  they  speak  of  constitutions 
and  of  government,  is  evident;  or  why  are  those 
terms  distinctly  and  separately  used?  A  consti- 
tution is  not  the  act  of  a  government,  but  of  a 
people  constituting  a  government;  and  govern- 
ment without  a  constitution,  is  power  without  a 
right. 

All  power  exercised  over  a  nation,  must  have 
some  beginning.  It  must  be  either  delegated,  or 
assumed.  There  are  no  other  sources.  All  dele- 
gated power  is  trust,  and  all  assumed  power  is 
usurpation.  Time  does  not  alter  the  nature  and 
quality  of  either. 

In  viewing  this  subject,  the  case  and  circum- 
stances of  America  present  themselves  as  in  the 
beginning  of  the  world ;  and  our  inquiry  into  the 
origin  of  government  is  shortened,  by  referring 
to  the  facts  that  have  arisen  in  our  own  day.  We 
have  no  occasion  to  roam  for  information  into  the 
obscure  field  of  antiquity,  nor  hazard  ourselves 
upon  conjecture.  We  are  brought  at  once  to 
the  point  of  seeing  government  begin,  as  if  we 
iv-21  265 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

had  lived  in  the  beginning  of  time.  The  real  vol- 
ume, not  of  history,  but  of  facts,  is  directly  be- 
fore us,  unmutilated  by  contrivance,  or  the  errors 
of  tradition. 

I  will  here  concisely  state  the  commencement 
of  the  American  constitutions;  by  which  the  dif- 
ference between  constitutions  and  government 
will  sufficiently  appear. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  remind  the  reader, 
that  the  United  States  of  America  consist  of 
thirteen  separate  states,  each  of  which  established 
a  government  for  itself,  after  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  done  the  fourth  of  July,  1776. 
Each  state  acted  independently  of  the  rest,  in 
forming  its  government;  but  the  same  general 
principle  pervades  the  whole.  When  the  several 
state  governments  were  formed,  they  proceeded 
to  form  the  Federal  Government,  that  acts  over 
the  whole  in  all  matters  which  concern  the  interest 
of  the  whole,  or  which  relate  to  the  intercourse 
of  the  several  states  with  each  other,  or  with  for- 
eign nations.  I  will  begin  with  giving  an  in- 
stance from  one  of  the  state  governments,  (that 
of  Pennsylvania)  and  then  proceed  to  the  Fed- 
eral Government. 

The  State  of  Pennsylvania,  though  nearly  of 
the  same  extent  of  territory  as  England,  was 
266 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

then  divided  into  only  twelve  counties.  Each  of 
those  counties  had  elected  a  committee  at  the 
commencement  of  the  dispute  with  the  English 
Government;  and  as  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
which  also  had  its  committee,  was  the  most  cen- 
tral for  intelligence,  it  became  the  center  of  com- 
munication to  the  several  county  committees. 
When  it  became  necessary  to  proceed  to  the 
formation  of  a  government,  the  Committee  of 
Philadelphia  proposed  a  conference  of  all  the 
county  committees,  to  be  held  in  that  city,  and 
wliich  met  the  latter  end  of  July,  1776. 

Though  these  committees  had  been  elected  by 
the  people,  they  were  not  elected  expressly  for 
the  purpose,  nor  invested  with  the  authority  of 
forming  a  constitution;  and  as  they  could  not, 
consistently  with  the  American  idea  of  rights,  as- 
sume such  a  power,  they  could  only  confer  upon 
the  matter,  and  put  it  into  a  train  of  operation. 
The  conferees,  therefore,  did  no  more  than  state 
the  case,  and  recommend  to  the  several  counties 
to  elect  six  representatives  for  each  county,  to 
meet  in  convention  at  Philadelphia,  with  powers 
to  form  a  constitution,  and  propose  it  for  public 
consideration. 

This  convention,  of  which  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin was  president,  having  met  and  deliberated, 

267 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

and  agreed  upon  a  constitution,  they  next  or- 
dered it  to  be  published,  not  as  a  thing  estab- 
lished, but  for  the  consideration  of  the  whole  peo- 
ple, their  approbation  or  rejection,  and  then  ad- 
journed to  a  stated  time. 

When  the  time  of  adjournment  was  expired, 
the  convention  re-assembled,  and  as  the  general 
opinion  of  the  people  in  approbation  of  it  was 
then  known,  the  constitution  was  signed,  sealed, 
and  proclaimed  on  the  authority  of  the  people; 
and  the  original  instrument  deposited  as  a  public 
record. 

The  convention  then  appointed  a  day  for  the 
general  election  of  the  representatives  who  were 
to  compose  the  Government,  and  the  time  it 
should  commence ;  and  having  done  this,  they  dis- 
solved, and  returned  to  their  several  homes  and 
occupations. 

In  this  constitution  were  laid  down,  first,  a 
declaration  of  rights.  Then  followed  the  form 
which  the  Government  should  have,  and  the  pow- 
ers it  should  possess — the  authority  of  the  courts 
of  judicature,  and  of  juries — the  manner  in 
which  elections  should  be  conducted,  and  the  pro- 
portion of  representatives  to  the  number  of  elect- 
ors— the  time  which  each  succeeding  assembly 
should  continue,  which  was  one  year — ^the  mode 
268 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

of  lev3dng,  and  of  accounting  for  the  expend- 
iture, of  public  money — of  appointing  public  of- 
ficers, etc. 

No  article  of  this  Constitution  could  be  altered 
or  infringed  at  the  discretion  of  the  Government 
that  was  to  ensue.  It  was  to  that  Government  a 
law.  But  as  it  would  have  been  unwise  to  pre- 
clude the  benefit  of  experience,  and  in  order  also 
to  prevent  the  accumulation  of  errors,  if  any 
should  be  found,  and  to  preserve  a  unison  of  gov- 
ernment with  the  circumstances  of  the  State  at 
all  times,  the  Constitution  provided,  that,  at  the 
expiration  of  every  seven  years,  a  convention 
should  be  elected,  for  the  express  purpose  of  re- 
vising the  Constitution,  and  making  alterations, 
additions,  or  abolitions  therein,  if  any  such  should 
be  found  necessary. 

Here  we  see  a  regular  process — a  govern- 
ment issuing  out  of  a  constitution,  formed  by  the 
people  in  their  original  character;  and  that  con- 
stitution serving,  not  only  as  an  authority,  but 
as  a  law  of  control  to  the  government.  It  was 
the  pohtical  bible  of  the  State.  Scarcely  a  family 
was  without  it.  Every  member  of  the  Govern- 
ment had  a  copy ;  and  nothing  was  more  common 
when  any  debate  arose  on  the  principle  of  a  bill, 
or  on  the  extent  of  any  species  of  authority,  than 

269 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

for  the  members  to  take  the  printed  Constitution 
out  of  their  pocket,  and  read  the  chapter  with 
which  such  matter  in  debate  was  connected. 

Having  thus  given  an  instance  from  one  of 
the  states,  I  will  show  the  proceedings  by  whicK 
the  Federal  Constitution  of  the  United  States 
arose  and  was  formed. 

Congress,  at  its  two  first  meetings,  in  Sep- 
tember 1774,  and  May  1775,  was  nothing  more 
than  a  deputation  from  the  legislatures  of  the 
several  provinces,  afterwards  states;  and  had  no 
other  authority  than  what  arose  from  common 
consent,  and  the  necessity  of  its  acting  as  a  public 
body.  In  every  thing  which  related  to  the  inter- 
nal affairs  of  America,  Congress  went  no  farther 
than  to  issue  recommendations  to  the  several  pro- 
vincial assemblies,  who  at  discretion  adopted  them 
or  not. 

Nothing  on  the  part  of  Congress  was  com- 
pulsive; yet,  in  this  situation,  it  was  more  faith- 
fully and  affectionately  obeyed,  than  was  any 
government  in  Europe.  This  instance,  like  that 
of  the  National  Assembly  of  France,  sufficiently 
shows  that  the  strength  of  government  does  not 
consist  in  any  thing  within  itself,  but  in  the  at- 
tachment of  a  nation,  and  the  interest  which  the 
people  feel  in  supporting  it.  When  this  is  lost, 
270 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

government  is  but  a  child  in  power;  and  though, 
like  the  old  government  of  France,  it  may  har- 
rass  individuals  for  a  while,  it  but  facilitates  its 
own  fall. 

After  the  declaration  of  independence,  it  be- 
came consistent  with  the  principle  on  which  rep- 
resentative government  is  founded,  that  the 
authority  of  Congress  should  be  defined  and  es- 
tabUshed.  Whether  that  authority  should  be 
more  or  less  than  Congress  then  discretionally 
exercised,  was  not  the  question.  It  was  merely 
the  rectitude  of  the  measure. 

For  this  purpose,  the  act,  called  the  Act  of 
Confederation,  (which  was  a  sort  of  imperfect 
federal  constitution),  was  proposed,  and,  after 
long  deliberation,  was  concluded  in  the  year 
1781.  It  was  not  the  act  of  Congress,  because  it 
is  repugnant  to  the  principles  of  representative 
government  that  a  body  should  give  power  to 
itself.  Congress  first  informed  the  several  states 
of  the  powers  which  it  conceived  were  necessary 
to  be  invested  in  the  union,  to  enable  it  to  per- 
form the  duties  and  services  required  from  it; 
and  the  states  severally  agreed  with  each  other, 
and  concentrated  in  Congress  those  powers. 

It  may  not  be  improper  to  observe,  that  in 
both  those  instances  (the  one  of  Pennsylvania, 

271 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

and  the  other  of  the  United  States) ,  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  the  idea  of  a  compact  between  the 
people  on  one  side,  and  the  government  on  the 
other.  The  compact  was  that  of  the  people  with 
each  other,  to  produce  and  constitute  a  govern- 
ment. 

To  suppose  that  any  government  can  be  a 
party  in  a  compact  with  the  whole  people,  is 
to  suppose  it  to  have  existence  before  it  can  have 
a  right  to  exist.  The  only  instance  in  which  a 
compact  can  take  place  between  the  people  and 
those  who  exercise  the  government,  is,  that  the 
people  shall  pay  them,  while  they  choose  to  em- 
ploy them. 

Government  is  not  a  trade  which  any  man  or 
body  of  men  has  a  right  to  set  up  and  exercise  for 
his  own  emolument,  but  is  altogether  a  trust,  in 
right  of  those  by  whom  that  trust  is  delegated, 
and  by  whom  it  is  always  resumable.  It  has  of 
itself  no  rights;  they  are  altogether  duties. 

Having  thus  given  two  instances  of  the 
original  formation  of  a  constitution,  I  will  show 
the  manner  in  which  both  have  been  changed 
since  their  first  establishment. 

The  powers  vested  in  the  governments  of  the 
several  states,  by  the  state  constitutions,  were 
found,  upon  experience,  to  be  too  great;  and 
272 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

those  vested  in  the  Federal  Government,  by  the 
Act  of  Confederation,  too  httle.  The  defect  was 
not  in  the  principle,  but  in  the  distribution  of 
power. 

Numerous  publications,  in  pamphlets  and  in 
the  newspapers,  appeared  on  the  propriety  and 
necessity  of  new  modelling  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment. After  some  time  of  public  discussion,  car- 
ried on  through  the  channel  of  the  press,  and  in 
conversations,  the  State  of  Virginia,  experiencing 
some  inconvenience  ^vith  respect  to  commerce, 
proposed  holding  a  continental  conference;  in 
consequence  of  which,  a  deputation  from  five  or 
six  of  the  state  assembhes  met  at  Annapohs  in 
Maryland  in  1786. 

This  meeting,  not  conceiving  itself  sufficiently 
authorized  to  go  into  the  business  of  a  reform, 
did  no  more  than  state  their  general  opinions  of 
the  propriety  of  the  measure,  and  recommended 
that  a  convention  of  all  the  states  should  be  held 
the  year  following. 

This  convention  met  at  Pliiladelphia  in  May, 
1787,  of  which  General  Washington  was  elected 
President.  He  was  not  at  that  time  connected 
with  any  of  the  state  governments,  or  with  Con- 
gress. He  delivered  up  his  commission  when  the 
war  ended,  and  since  then  had  lived  a  private 

273 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

citizen.  The  convention  went  deeply  into  all  the 
subjects;  and  having,  after  a  variety  of  debate 
and  investigation,  agreed  among  themselves  upon 
the  several  parts  of  a  federal  constitution,  the 
next  question  was,  the  manner  of  giving  it  au- 
thority and  practise. 

For  this  purpose,  they  did  not,  like  a  cabal  of 
courtiers,  send  for  a  Dutch  stadtholder,  or  a 
German  elector;  but  they  referred  the  whole 
matter  to  the  sense  and  interest  of  the  country. 

They  first  directed  that  the  proposed  consti- 
tution should  be  published.  Secondly,  that  each 
state  should  elect  a  convention,  expressly  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  it  into  consideration,  and  of 
ratifying  or  rejecting  it;  and  that  as  soon  as  the 
approbation  and  ratification  of  any  nine  states 
should  be  given,  that  those  states  should  proceed 
to  the  election  of  their  proportion  of  members 
to  the  new  Federal  Government;  and  that  the 
operation  of  it  should  then  begin,  and  the  former 
Federal  Government  cease. 

The  several  states  proceeded  accordingly  to 
elect  their  conventions.  Some  of  those  conven- 
tions ratified  the  Constitution  by  very  large 
majorities,  and  two  or  tliree  unanimously.  In 
others  there  were  much  debate  and  division  of 
opinion.      In    the    ^lassachusetts    Convention, 

274 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

which  met  at  Boston,  the  majority  was  not  above 
nineteen  or  twenty,  in  about  three  hundred  mem- 
bers; but  such  is  the  nature  of  representative 
government,  that  it  quietly  decides  all  matters 
by  majority. 

After  the  debate  in  the  Massachusetts  Con- 
vention was  closed,  and  the  vote  taken,  the  ob- 
jecting members  rose,  and  declared,  ''That 
though  they  had  argued  and  voted  against  it,  he- 
cause  certain  parts  appeared  to  them  in  a  differ- 
ent light  to  what  they  appeared  to  other  mem- 
bers: yet,  as  the  vote  had  decided  in  favor  of  the 
Constitution  as  proposed,  they  should  give  it  the 
same  practical  support  as  if  they  had  voted 
for  it" 

As  soon  as  nine  states  had  concurred,  (and 
the  rest  followed  in  the  order  their  conventions 
were  elected) ,  the  old  fabric  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment was  taken  down,  and  the  new  one  elect- 
ed, of  which  General  Washington  is  President. 
In  this  place  I  cannot  help  remarking,  that  the 
character  and  services  of  this  gentleman  are  suf- 
ficient to  put  all  those  men  called  kings  to  shame. 

While  they  are  receiving  from  the  sweat  and 
labors  of  mankind,  a  prodigality  of  pay,  to  which 
neither  their  abilities  nor  their  services  can  en- 
title them,  he  is  rendering  every  service  in  his 

275 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

power,  and  refusing  every  pecuniary  reward. 
He  accepted  no  pay  as  Commander  in  Chief;  he 
accepts  none  as  President  of  the  United  States. 

After  the  new  Federal  Constitution  was  es- 
tablished, the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  conceiving 
that  some  parts  of  its  own  Constitution  required 
to  be  altered,  elected  a  convention  for  that  pur- 
pose. The  proposed  alterations  were  published, 
and  the  people  concurring  therein,  they  were  es- 
tablished. 

In  forming  those  constitutions,  or  in  altering 
them,  little  or  no  inconvenience  took  place.  The 
ordinary  course  of  things  was  not  interrupted, 
and  the  advantages  have  been  much.  It  is  always 
the  interest  of  a  far  greater  number  of  people  in 
a  nation  to  have  things  right,  than  to  let  them 
remain  wi'ong ;  and  when  public  matters  are  open 
to  debate,  and  the  public  judgment  free,  it  will 
not  decide  wrong,  unless  it  decides  too  hastily. 

In  the  two  instances  of  changing  the  consti- 
tutions, the  governments  then  in  being  were  not 
actors  either  way.  Government  has  no  right  to 
make  itself  a  party  in  any  debates  respecting 
the  principles  or  mode  of  forming  or  of  chang- 
ing, constitutions. 

It  is  not  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  exercise 
the  powers  of  government,  that  constitutions, 

276 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

and  the  governments  issuing  from  them,  are  es- 
tablished. In  all  those  matters  the  right  of  judg- 
ing and  acting  are  in  those  who  pay,  and  not  in 
those  who  receive. 

A  constitution  is  the  property  of  a  nation, 
and  not  of  those  who  exercise  the  government. 
All  the  constitutions  of  America  are  declared  to 
be  established  on  the  authority  of  the  people.  In 
France,  the  word  nation  is  used  instead  of  the 
people;  but  in  both  cases,  a  constitution  is  a 
thing  antecedent  to  the  government,  and  always 
distinct  therefrom. 

In  England,  it  is  not  difficult  to  perceive  that 
every  thing  has  a  constitution,  except  the  nation. 
Every  society  and  association  that  is  established, 
first  agreed  upon  a  number  of  original  articles, 
digested  into  form,  which  are  its  constitution.  It 
then  appointed  its  officers,  whose  powers  and 
authorities  are  described  in  that  constitution,  and 
the  government  of  that  society  then  commenced. 
Those  officers,  by  whatever  name  they  are  called, 
have  no  authority  to  add  to,  alter,  or  abridge  the 
original  articles.  It  is  only  to  the  constituting 
power  that  this  right  belongs. 

From  the  want  of  understanding  the  dif- 
ference between  a  constitution  and  a  govern- 
ment, Dr.  Johnson,  and  all  writers  of  his  descrip- 

277 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

tion,  have  always  bewildered  themselves.  They 
could  not  but  perceive,  that  there  must  neces- 
sarily be  a  controlling  power  existing  somewhere, 
and  they  placed  this  power  in  the  discretion  of 
the  persons  exercising  the  government,  instead 
of  placing  it  in  a  constitution  formed  by  the 
nation. 

When  it  is  in  a  constitution,  it  has  the  na- 
tion for  its  support,  and  the  natural  and  con- 
trolling powers  are  together.  The  laws  which 
are  enacted  by  governments,  control  men  only  as 
individuals,  but  the  nation,  through  its  consti- 
tution, controls  the  whole  government,  and  has 
a  natural  ability  so  to  do.  The  final  controlling 
power,  therefore,  and  the  original  constituting 
power,  are  one  and  the  same  power. 

Dr.  Johnson  could  not  have  advanced  such  a 
position  in  any  country  where  there  was  a  con- 
stitution; and  he  is  himself  an  evidence,  that  no 
such  thing  as  a  constitution  exists  in  England. 
But  it  may  be  put  as  a  question,  not  improper 
to  be  investigated,  that  if  a  constitution  does  not 
exist,  how  came  the  idea  of  its  existence  so  gen- 
erally established? 

In  order  to  decide  this  question,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  consider  a  constitution  in  both  cases: — 
First,  as  creating  a  government  and  giving  it 
278 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

powers.  Secondly,  as  regulating  and  restraining 
the  powers  so  given. 

If  we  begin  with  William  of  Normandy,  we 
fmd  that  the  government  of  England  was  origi- 
nally a  tyranny,  founded  on  an  invasion  and  con- 
quest of  the  country.  This  being  admitted,  it 
will  then  appear,  that  the  exertion  of  the  nation, 
at  different  periods,  to  abate  that  tyranny,  and 
render  it  less  intolerable,  has  been  credited  for  a 
constitution. 

Magna  Charta,  as  it  was  called,  (it  is  now 
like  an  almanac  of  the  same  date) ,  was  no  more 
than  compelling  the  Government  to  renounce  a 
part  of  its  assumptions.  It  did  not  create  and 
give  powers  to  Government  in  the  manner  a  con- 
stitution does;  but  was,  as  far  as  it  went,  of  the 
nature  of  a  re-conquest,  and  not  of  a  constitu- 
tion; for  could  the  nation  have  totally  expelled 
the  usurpation,  as  France  has  done  its  despotism, 
it  would  then  have  had  a  constitution  in  form. 

The  history  of  the  Edwards  and  the  Henrys, 
and  up  to  the  commencement  of  the  Stuarts,  ex- 
hibits as  many  instances  of  tyranny  as  could  be 
acted  within  the  limits  to  which  the  nation  has 
restricted  it.  The  Stuarts  endeavored  to  pass 
those  limits,  and  their  fate  is  well  known.  In  all 
those  instances  we  see  nothing  of  a  constitution, 

279 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

but  only  of  restrictions  on  assumed  power. 
After  this,  another  Wilham,  descended  from 
the  same  stock,  and  claiming  from  the  same  ori- 
gin, gained  possession;  and  of  the  two  evils, 
James  and  William,  the  nation  preferred  what  it 
thought  the  least;  since,  from  the  circumstances, 
it  must  take  one. 

The  act,  called  the  Bill  of  Rights,  comes  here 
into  view.  What  is  it  but  a  bargain,  which  the 
parts  of  government  made  with  each  other  to 
divide  powers,  profits  and  privileges?  You  shall 
have  so  much,  and  I  will  have  the  rest;  and  with 
respect  to  the  nation,  it  said,  for  your  share,  you 
shall  have  the  right  of  jJetitioning. 

This  being  the  case,  the  Bill  of  Rights  is  more 
properly  a  bill  of  wrongs,  and  of  insult.  As  to 
what  is  called  the  Convention-parliament,  it  was 
a  thing  that  made  itself,  and  then  made  the 
authority  by  which  it  acted.  A  few  persons  got 
together,  and  called  themselves  by  that  name. 
Several  of  them  had  never  been  elected,  and  none 
of  them  for  that  purpose. 

From  the  time  of  William,  a  species  of  gov- 
ernment arose,  issuing  out  of  this  coalition  Bill  of 
Rights;  and  more  so,  since  the  corruption  intro- 
duced at  the  Hanover  succession,  by  the  agency 
of  Walpole:   that  can  be  described  by  no  other 

280 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

name  than  a  despotic  legislation.  Though  the 
parts  may  embarrass  each  other,  the  whole  has 
no  bounds;  and  the  only  right  it  acknowledges 
out  of  itself,  is  the  right  of  petitioning.  Where 
then  is  the  constitution  that  either  gives  or  re- 
strains power? 

It  is  not  because  a  part  of  the  government  is 
elective,  that  makes  it  less  a  despotism,  if  the 
persons  so  elected,  possess  afterwards,  as  a  par- 
Hament,  unlimited  powers.  Election,  in  this 
case,  becomes  separated  from  representation,  and 
the  candidates  are  candidates  for  despotism. 

I  cannot  believe  that  any  nation,  reasoning 
on  its  own  rights,  would  have  thought  of  calling 
those  things  a  constitution,  if  the  cry  of  constitu- 
tion had  not  been  set  up  by  the  Government.  It 
has  got  into  circulation  like  the  words  bore  and 
quoz,  by  being  chalked  up  in  the  speeches  of 
Parhament,  as  those  words  were  on  the  window- 
shutters  and  door-posts;  but  whatever  the  Con- 
stitution may  be  in  other  respects,  it  has  un- 
doubtedly been  the  most  productive  machine  for 
taxation  that  was  ever  i^ivented. 

The  taxes  in  France  under  the  new  Consti- 
tution, are  not  quite  thirteen  shillings  per  head,* 

*The  whole  amount  of  the  assessed  taxes  of  France,  for  the 
present  year,  is  three  hundred  millions  of  francs,  which  is  twelve 
millions  and  a  half  sterling;  and  the  incidental  taxes  are  estimated 

IV-22  281 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

and  the  taxes  in  England,  under  what  is  called 
its  present  Constitution,  are  forty-eight  shillings 
and  sixpence  per  head,  men,  women,  and  children, 
amounting  to  nearly  seventeen  millions  sterling, 
besides  the  expense  of  collection,  which  is  up- 
wards of  a  million  more. 

In  a  country  like  England,  where  the  whole 
of  the  civil  government  is  executed  by  the  people 
of  every  town  and  country,  by  means  of  parish 
officers,  magistrates,  quarterly  sessions,  juries, 
and  assize,  without  any  trouble  to  what  is  called 
government,  or  any  other  expense  to  the  revenue 
than  the  salary  of  the  judges,  it  is  astonishing 
how  such  a  mass  of  taxes  can  be  employed. 

Not  even  the  internal  defense  of  the  country 
is  paid  out  of  the  revenue.  On  all  occasions, 
whether  real  or  contrived,  recourse  is  continually 
had  to  new  loans  and  new  taxes.  No  wonder, 
then,  that  a  machine  of  government  so  advan- 
tageous to  the  advocates  of  a  court,  should  be  so 
triumphantly  extolled ! 

at  three  millions,  making  in  the  whole  fifteen  millions  and  a  half; 
which  among  twenty-four  millions  of  people,  is  not  qiiite  thirty 
shillings  per  head. 

France  has  lessened  her  taxes  since  the  Revolution,  nearly 
nine  millions  sterling  annually.  Before  the  Revolution,  the  city 
of  Paris  paid  a  duty  of  upwards  of  thirty  per  cent  on  all 
articles  brought  into  the  city.  This  tax  was  collected  at  the  city 
gates.  It  was  taken  off  on  the  first  of  last  May,  and  the  gates 
taken  down. 

282 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

No  wonder,  that  St.  James's  or  St.  Stephen's 
should  echo  with  the  continual  cry  of  constitu- 
tion! No  wonder,  that  the  French  Revolution 
should  be  reprobated,  and  the  res-publica  treated 
with  reproach!  The  red  book  of  England,  like 
the  red  book  of  France,  will  explain  the  reason,  t 

I  will  now,  by  way  of  relaxation,  turn  a 
thought  or  two  to  Mr.  Burke.  I  ask  his  pardon 
for  neglecting  him  so  long. 

*'  America,"  says  he,  (in  his  speech  on  the 
Canada  Constitution  Bill)  "never  dreamed  of 
such  absurd  doctrine  as  the  Rights  of  Man." 

Mr.  Burke  is  such  a  bold  presumer,  and  ad- 
vances his  assertions  and  his  premises  with  such 
a  deficiency  of  judgment,  that,  without  troubling 
ourselves  about  principles  of  philosophy  or  poli- 
tics, the  mere  logical  conclusions  they  produce, 
are  ridiculous.    For  Instance: 

If  governments,  as  Mr.  Burke  asserts,  are 
not  founded  on  the  rights  of  man,  and  are 
founded  on  any  rights  at  all,  they  consequently 
must  be  founded  on  the  rights  of  soinething  that 
is  not  man.    What  then  is  that  something? 

Generally  speaking,  we  know  of  no  other 
creatures  that  inhabit  the  earth  than  man  and 

fWhat  was  called  the  livre  rouge,  or  the  red  book,  in  France, 
was  not  exactly  similar  to  the  court  calendar  in  England;  but 
it  sufficiently  showed  how  a  great  part  of  the  taxes  were  lavished. 

283 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

beast;  and  in  all  cases,  where  only  two  things 
offer  themselves,  and  one  must  be  admitted,  a 
negation  proved  on  any  one,  amounts  to  an 
affirmative  on  the  other;  and  therefore,  Mr. 
Burke,  by  proving  against  the  rights  of  man, 
proves  in  behalf  of  the  beast;  and  consequently 
proves  that  government  is  a  beast;  and  as  diffi- 
cult things  sometimes  explain  each  other,  we  now 
see  the  origin  of  keeping  wild  beasts  in  the 
Tower ;  for  they  certainly  can  be  of  no  other  use 
than  to  show  the  origin  of  the  government. 
They  are  in  the  place  of  a  constitution. 

O!  John  Bull,  what  honors  thou  hast  lost  by 
not  being  a  wild  beast.  Thou  mightest,  on  INIr. 
Burke's  system,  have  been  in  the  Tower  for  life. 

If  Mr.  Burke's  arguments  have  not  weight 
enough  to  keep  one  serious,  the  fault  is  less  mine 
than  his ;  and  as  I  am  willing  to  make  an  apology 
to  the  reader  for  the  liberty  I  have  taken,  I  hope 
Mr.  Burke  wiU  also  make  his  for  giving  the 
cause. 

Having  thus  paid  Mr.  Burke  the  compli- 
ment of  remembering  him,  I  return  to  the  sub- 
ject. 

From  the  want  of  a  constitution  in  England 
to  restrain  and  regulate  the  wild  impulse  of 
power,  many  of  the  laws  are  irrational  and  tyran- 
284 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

nical,  and  the  administration  of  them  vague  and 
problematical. 

The  attention  of  the  Government  of  England 
(for  I  rather  choose  to  call  it  by  this  name,  than 
the  English  Government)  appears,  since  its  polit- 
ical connection  with  Germany,  to  have  been  so 
completely  engrossed  and  absorbed  by  foreign 
affairs,  and  the  means  of  raising  taxes,  that  it 
seems  to  exist  for  no  other  purposes.  Domestic 
concerns  are  neglected ;  and  with  respect  to  regu- 
lar law,  there  is  scarcely  such  a  thing. 

Almost  every  case  must  now  be  determined 
by  some  precedent,  be  that  precedent  good  or 
bad,  or  whether  it  properly  applies  or  not;  and 
the  practise  has  become  so  general,  as  to  suggest 
a  suspicion,  that  it  proceeds  from  a  deeper  policy 
than  at  first  sight  appears. 

Since  the  Revolution  of  America,  and  more 
so  since  that  of  France,  this  preaching  up  the 
doctrine  of  precedents,  drawn  from  times  and  cir- 
cumstances antecedent  to  those  events,  has  been 
the  studied  practise  of  the  English  Government. 
The  generality  of  those  precedents  are  founded 
on  principles  and  opinions,  the  reverse  of  what 
they  ought  to  be;  and  the  greater  distance  of 
time  they  are  drawn  from,  the  more  they  are  to 
be  suspected. 

285 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

But  by  associating  those  precedents  with  a 
superstitious  reverence  for  ancient  things,  as 
monks  show  relics  and  call  them  holy,  the  gener- 
ality of  mankind  are  deceived  into  the  design. 
Governments  now  act  as  if  they  were  afraid  to 
awaken  a  single  reflection  in  man.  They  are 
softly  leading  him  to  the  sepulchre  of  precedents, 
to  deaden  his  faculties  and  call  his  attention  from 
the  scene  of  revolutions. 

They  feel  that  he  is  arriving  at  knowledge 
faster  than  they  wish,  and  their  policy  of  prece- 
dents is  the  barometer  of  their  fears.  This  polit- 
ical popery,  like  the  ecclesiastical  popery  of  old, 
has  had  its  day,  and  is  hastening  to  its  exit.  The 
ragged  relic  and  the  antiquated  precedent,  the 
monk  and  the  monarch,  will  molder  together. 

Government  by  precedent,  without  any  re- 
gard to  the  principle  of  the  precedent,  is  one  of 
the  vilest  systems  that  can  be  set  up.  In  numer- 
ous instances,  the  precedent  ought  to  operate  as 
a  warning,  and  not  as  an  example,  and  requires 
to  be  shunned  instead  of  imitated ;  but  instead  of 
this,  precedents  are  taken  in  the  lump,  and  put 
at  once  for  constitution  and  for  law. 

Either  the  doctrine  of  precedents  is  policy  to 
keep  a  man  in  a  state  of  ignorance,  or  it  is  a  prac- 
tical confession  that  wisdom  degenerates  in  gov- 
286 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

ernments  as  governments  increase  in  age,  and 
can  only  hobble  along  by  the  stilts  and  crutches 
of  precedents. 

How  is  it  that  the  same  persons  who  would 
proudly  be  thought  wiser  than  their  predeces- 
sors, appear  at  the  same  time  only  as  the  ghosts 
of  departed  wisdom?  How  strangely  is  an- 
tiquity treated!  To  answer  some  purposes,  it  is 
spoken  of  as  the  times  of  darkness  and  ignor- 
ance, and  to  answer  others,  it  is  put  for  the  light 
of  the  world. 

If  the  doctrine  of  precedents  is  to  be  fol- 
lowed, the  expenses  of  government  need  not  con- 
tinue the  same.  Why  pay  men  extravagantly, 
who  have  but  little  to  do?  If  every  thing  that 
can  happen  is  abeady  in  precedent,  legislation 
is  at  an  end,  and  precedent,  like  a  dictionary, 
determines  every  case.  Either,  therefore,  gov- 
ernment has  arrived  at  its  dotage,  and  requires 
to  be  renovated,  or  all  the  occasions  for  exercis- 
ing its  wisdom  have  occurred. 

We  now  see  all  over  Europe,  and  particu- 
larly in  England,  the  curious  phenomenon  of  a 
nation  looking  one  way,  and  the  Government  the 
other — the  one  forward  and  the  other  backward. 
If  governments  are  to  go  on  by  precedent,  while 
nations  go  on  by  improvement,  they  must  at  last 

287 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

come  to  a  final  separation;  and  the  sooner,  and 
the  more  civilly  they  determine  this  point,  the 
better  it  will  be  for  them.* 

Having  thus  spoken  of  constitutions  gener- 
ally, as  things  distinct  from  actual  governments, 
let  us  proceed  to  consider  the  parts  of  which  a 
constitution  is  composed. 

Opinions  differ  more  on  this  subject,  than 
with  respect  to  the  whole.  That  a  nation  ought 
to  have  a  constitution,  as  a  rule  for  the  conduct 
of  its  government,  is  a  simple  question  to  which 
all  men,  not  directly  courtiers,  will  agree.  It  is 
only  on  the  component  parts  that  questions  and 
opinions  multiply. 

But  this  difficulty,  like  every  other,  will 
diminish  when  put  into  a  train  of  being  rightly 
understood.  The  first  thing  is,  that  a  nation  has 
a  right  to  establish  a  constitution. 

*In  England  the  improvements  in  agriculture,  useful  arts,  man- 
ufactures, and  commerce  have  been  made  in  opposition  to  the 
genius  of  its  government,  which  is  that  of  following  precedents. 
It  is  from  the  enterprise  and  industry  of  the  individuals,  and 
their  numerous  associations,  in  which,  tritely  speaking,  govern- 
ment is  neither  pillow  nor  bolster,  that  these  improvements  have 
proceeded. 

No  man  thought  about  the  Government,  or  who  was  iti, 
or  who  was  out,  when  he  was  planning  or  executing  those  things, 
and  all  he  had  to  hope,  with  respect  to  government,  was,  that  it 
would  let  him  alone.  Three  or  four  very  silly  ministerial  news- 
papers are  continually  offending  against  the  spirit  of  national  im- 
provement, by  ascribing  it  to  a  minister.  They  may  with  as  much 
truth  ascribe  this  book  to  a  minister. 

288 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

Whether  it  exercises  this  right  in  the  most 
judicious  manner  at  first,  it  is  quite  another  case. 
It  exercises  it  agreeably  to  the  judgment  it  pos- 
sesses ;  and  by  continuing  to  do  so,  all  errors  will 
at  last  be  exploded. 

When  this  right  is  established  in  a  nation, 
there  is  no  fear  that  it  will  be  employed  to  its 
own  injury.  A  nation  can  have  no  interest  in 
being  wrong. 

Though  all  the  constitutions  of  America  are 
on  one  general  principle,  yet  no  two  of  them  are 
exactly  alike  in  their  component  parts,  or  in  the 
distribution  of  the  powers  which  they  give  to  the 
actual  governments.  Some  are  more  and  others 
less  complex. 

In  forming  a  constitution,  it  is  first  necessary 
to  consider  what  are  the  ends  for  which  govern- 
ment is  necessary:  secondly,  what  are  the  best 
means,  and  the  least  expensive,  for  accomplish- 
ing those  ends. 

Government  is  nothing  more  than  a  national 
association;  and  the  object  of  this  association  is 
the  good  of  all,  as  well  individually  as  collec- 
tively. Every  man  wishes  to  pursue  his  occupa- 
tion, and  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  labors,  and  the 
produce  of  his  property,  in  peace  and  safety,  and 
with  the  least  possible  expense.     When  these 

289 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

things  are  accomplished,  all  the  objects  for  which 
government  ought  to  be  established  are  an- 
swered. 

It  has  been  customary  to  consider  govern- 
ment under  three  distinct  general  heads:  The 
legislative,  the  executive,  and  the  judicial. 

But  if  we  permit  our  judgment  to  act  unin- 
cumbered by  the  habit  of  multiplied  terms,  we 
can  perceive  no  more  than  two  divisions  of 
power,  of  which  civil  government  is  composed, 
namely,  that  of  legislating,  or  enacting  laws,  and 
that  of  executing  or  administering  them.  Every 
thing,  therefore,  appertaining  to  civil  govern- 
ment, classes  itself  under  one  or  other  of  these 
two  divisions. 

So  far  as  regards  the  execution  of  the  laws, 
that  which  is  called  the  judicial  power,  is  strictly 
and  properly  the  executive  power  of  every  coun- 
try. It  is  that  power  to  which  every  individual 
has  an  appeal,  and  which  causes  the  laws  to  be 
executed;  neither  have  we  any  other  clear  idea 
with  respect  to  the  official  execution  of  the  laws. 
In  England,  and  also  in  America  and  France, 
this  power  begins  with  the  magistrate,  and  pro- 
ceeds up  through  all  the  courts  of  judicature. 

I  leave  to  courtiers  to  explain  what  is  meant 
by  calling  monarchy  the  executive  power.  It  is 
290 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

merely  a  name  in  which  acts  of  government  are 
done;  and  any  other,  or  none  at  all,  would  an- 
swer the  same  purpose. 

Laws  have  neither  more  nor  less  authority  on 
this  account.  It  must  be  from  the  justness  of 
their  principles,  and  the  interest  which  a  nation 
feels  therein,  that  they  derive  support;  if  they 
require  any  other  than  this,  it  is  a  sign  that  some- 
thing in  the  system  of  government  is  imperfect. 
Laws  difficult  to  be  executed  cannot  be  generally 
good. 

With  respect  to  the  organization  of  the  legis- 
lative 'power ^  different  modes  have  been  adopted 
in  different  countries.  In  America  it  is  gener- 
ally composed  of  two  houses.  In  France  it  con- 
sists of  but  one,  but  in  both  countries,  it  is  wholly 
by  representation. 

The  case  is,  that  mankind  (from  the  long 
tyranny  of  assumed  power)  have  had  so  few  op- 
portunities of  making  the  necessary  trials  on 
modes  and  principles  of  government,  in  order  to 
discover  the  best,  that  government  is  hut  now  he- 
ginning  to  he  known,  and  experience  is  yet  want- 
ing to  determine  many  particulars. 

The  objections  against  two  houses  are,  first, 
that  there  is  an  inconsistency  in  any  part  of  a 
whole  legislature  coming  to  a  final  determination 

291 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

by  vote  on  any  matter,  whilst  that  matter ^  with 
respect  to  that  whole,  is  yet  only  in  a  train  of  de- 
liberation, and  consequently  open  to  new  illus- 
trations. 

Secondly,  That  by  taking  the  vote  on  each, 
as  a  separate  body,  it  always  admits  of  the  possi- 
bility, and  is  often  the  case  in  practise,  that  the 
minority  governs  the  majority,  and  that,  in  some 
instances,  to  a  great  degree  of  inconsistency. 

Thirdly,  That  two  houses  arbitrarily  check- 
ing or  controlling  each  other,  is  inconsistent;  be- 
cause it  cannot  be  proved,  on  the  principles  of 
just  representation,  that  either  should  be  wiser 
or  better  than  the  other.  They  may  check  in  the 
wrong  as  well  as  in  the  right;  and  therefore,  to 
give  the  power  where  we  cannot  give  the  wisdom 
to  use  it,  nor  be  assured  of  its  being  rightly  used, 
renders  the  hazard  at  least  equal  to  the  precau- 
tion.* 

*  With  respect  to  the  two  Houses,  of  which  the  English  Par- 
liament is  composed,  they  appear  to  be  effectually  influenced  into 
one,  and,  as  a  legislature,  to  have  no  temper  of  its  own.  The  min- 
ister, whoever  he  at  any  time  may  be,  touches  it  as  with  an  opixun 
wand,  and  it  sleeps  obedience. 

But  if  we  look  at  the  distinct  abilities  of  the  two  Houses,  the 
difference  will  appear  so  great,  as  to  show  the  inconsistency  of 
placing  power  where  there  can  be  no  certainty  of  the  judgment 
to  use  it.  Wretched  as  the  state  of  representation  is  in  England, 
it  is  manhood  compared  with  what  is  called  the  House  of  Lords; 
and  so  little  is  this  nick-named  House  regarded,  that  the  people 
scarcely  inquire  at  any  time  what  it  is  doing.    It  appears  also  to 

292 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

The  objection  against  a  single  house  is,  that 
it  is  always  in  a  condition  of  committing  itself 
too  soon.  But  it  should  at  the  same  time  be  re- 
membered that  when  there  is  a  constitution  which 
defines  the  power,  and  establishes  the  principles 
within  which  a  legislature  shall  act,  there  is  al- 
ready a  more  effectual  check  provided,  and  more 
powerfully  operating,  than  any  other  check  can 
be.    For  example : 

Were  a  bill  brought  into  any  of  the  American 
legislatures,  similar  to  that  which  was  passed  into 
an  act  of  the  English  Parliament,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  reign  of  George  I,  to  extend 
the  duration  of  the  assemblies  to  a  longer  period 
than  they  now  sit,  the  check  is  in  the  constitution, 
which  in  effect  says,  thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and 
no  further, 

be  most  under  influence,  and  the  furthest  removed  from  the  gen- 
eral interest  of  the  nation.  In  the  debate  on  engaging  in  the 
Russian  and  Turkish  war,  the  majority  in  the  House  of  Peers 
in  favor  of  it  was  upwards  of  ninety,  when  in  the  other  House, 
which  was  more  than  double  its  numbers,  the  majority  was  sixty- 
three. 

The  proceedings  on  Mr,  Fox's  bill,  respecting  the  rights  of 
juries,  merits  also  to  be  noticed.  The  persons  called  the  peers, 
were  not  the  objects  of  that  bill.  They  are  already  in  possession 
of  more  privileges  than  that  bill  gave  to  others.  They  are  their 
own  jury,  and  if  any  one  of  that  House  were  prosecuted  for  a 
libel,  he  would  not  suffer,  even  upon  conviction,  for  the  first 
offense.  Such  inequality  in  laws  ought  not  to  exist  in  any  country. 
The  French  Constitution  says,  that  the  law  is  the  same  to  every 
individual,  whether  to  protect  or  to  punish.  All  are  equal  in  its 
sight. 

293 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

But  in  order  to  remove  the  objection  against 
a  single  House,  (that  of  acting  with  too  quick  an 
impulse)  and  at  the  same  time  to  avoid  the  in- 
consistencies, in  some  cases  absurdities,  arising 
from  the  two  Houses,  the  following  method  has 
been  proposed  as  an  improvement  on  both: 

First:    To  have  but  one  representation. 

Secondly:  To  divide  that  representation,  by 
lot,  into  two  or  three  parts. 

Thirdly:  That  every  proposed  bill  shall  first 
be  debated  in  those  parts,  by  succession,  that  they 
may  become  hearers  of  each  other,  but  without 
taking  any  vote.  After  which  the  whole  repre- 
sentation to  assemble,  for  a  general  debate  and 
determination,  by  vote. 

To  this  proposed  improvement  has  been 
added  another,  for  the  purpose  of  keeping  the 
representation  in  a  state  of  constant  renovation; 
which  is,  that  one-third  of  the  representation  of 
each  county,  shall  go  out  at  the  expiration  of  one 
year,  and  the  number  be  replaced  by  new  elec- 
tions. Another  third  at  the  expiration  of  the 
second  year,  replaced  in  like  manner,  and  every 
third  year  to  be  a  general  election.* 

*As  to  the  state  of  representation  in  England,  it  is  too  absurd 
to  be  reasoned  upon.  Almost  all  the  represented  parts  are  de- 
creasing in  population,  and  the  unrepresented  parts  are  increasing. 
A  general  convention  of  the  nation  is  necessary  to  take  the  whole 
state  of  its  government  into  consideration. 

294 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

But  in  whatever  manner  the  separate  parts 
of  a  constitution  may  be  arranged,  there  is  one 
general  principle  that  distinguishes  freedom 
from  slavery,  which  is,  that  all  hereditary  gov- 
ernment over  a  people  is  to  them  a  species  of 
slavery,  and  representative  government  is  free- 
dom. 

Considering  government  in  the  only  light  in 
which  it  should  be  considered,  that  of  a  national 
ASSOCIATION^  it  ought  to  be  so  constructed  as  not 
to  be  disordered  by  any  accident  happening 
among  the  parts;  and  therefore,  no  extraordi- 
nary power,  capable  of  producing  such  an  effect, 
should  be  lodged  in  the  hands  of  any  individual. 

The  death,  sickness,  absence,  or  defection  of 
any  one  individual  in  a  government,  ought  to  be 
a  matter  of  no  more  consequence,  with  respect  to 
the  nation,  than  if  the  same  circumstance  had 
taken  place  in  a  member  of  the  English  Parlia- 
ment, or  the  French  National  Assembly. 

Scarcely  anything  presents  a  more  degrading 
character  of  national  greatness,  than  its  being 
thrown  into  confusion  by  any  thing  happening 
to,  or  acted  by  an  individual ;  and  the  ridiculous- 
ness of  the  scene  is  often  increased  by  the  natural 
insignificance  of  the  person  by  whom  it  is  occa- 
sioned. 

295 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

Were  a  government  so  constructed,  that  it 
could  not  go  on  unless  a  goose  or  a  gander  were 
present  in  the  senate,  the  difficulties  would  be 
just  as  great  and  as  real  on  the  flight  or  sickness 
of  the  goose  or  the  gander,  as  if  they  were  called 
a  king.  We  laugh  at  individuals  for  the  silly 
difficulties  they  make  to  themselves,  without  per- 
ceiving that  the  greatest  of  all  ridiculous  things 
are  acted  in  governments.* 

All  the  constitutions  of  America  are  on  a 
plan  that  excludes  the  childish  embarrassments 
which  occur  in  monarchial  countries.  No  suspen- 
sion of  government  can  there  take  place  for  a 
moment,  from  any  circumstance  whatever.    The 

*It  is  related,  that  in  the  canton  of  Berne,  in  Switzerland,  it 
had  been  ciistomary  from  time  immemorial,  to  keep  a  bear  at 
the  public  expense,  and  the  people  had  been  taught  to  believe, 
that  if  they  had  not  a  bear,  they  should  all  be  undone.  It  hap- 
pened some  years  ago,  that  the  bear,  then  in  being,  was  taken 
sick,  and  died  too  suddenly  to  have  his  place  immediately  sup- 
plied with  another. 

During  the  interregnum  the  people  discovered,  that  the  corn 
grew  and  the  vintage  flourished,  and  the  sun  and  moon  continued 
to  rise  and  set,  and  every  thing  went  on  the  same  as  before, 
and,  taking  courage  from  these  circumstances,  they  resolved  not 
to  keep  any  more  bears;  "for,"  said  they,  "a  bear  is  a  very 
voracious,  expensive  animal,  and  we  were  obliged  to  pull  out  Ms 
claws,  lest  he  should  hurt  the  citizens." 

The  story  of  the  bear  of  Berne  was  related  in  some  of  the 
French  newspapers,  at  the  time  of  the  flight  of  Louis  XVI.  and 
the  application  of  it  to  monarchy  could  not  be  mistaken  in  France ; 
but  it  seems  that  the  aristocracy  of  Berne  applied  it  to  them- 
selves, and  have  since  prohibited  the  reading  of  French  news- 
papers. 

296 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

system  of  representation  provides  for  every 
thing,  and  is  the  only  system  in  which  nations 
and  governments  can  always  appear  in  their 
proper  character. 

As  extraordinary  power  ought  not  to  be 
lodged  in  the  hands  of  any  individual,  so  ought 
there  to  be  no  appropriations  of  public  monc}^  to 
any  person  beyond  what  his  services  in  a  state 
may  be  worth. 

It  signifies  not  whether  a  man  be  called  a 
president,  a  king,  an  emperor,  a  senator,  or  by 
any  other  name  which  propriety  or  folly  may 
devise,  or  arrogance  assume!  it  is  only  a  certain 
service  he  can  perform  in  the  state ;  and  the  serv- 
ice of  any  such  individual  in  the  routine  of  office, 
whether  such  office  be  called  monarchial,  presi- 
dential, senatorial,  or  by  any  other  name  or  title, 
can  never  exceed  the  value  of  ten  thousand 
pounds  a  year. 

All  the  great  services  that  are  done  in  the 
world  are  performed  by  volunteer  characters, 
who  accept  no  pay  for  them;  but  the  routine  of 
office  is  always  regulated  to  such  a  general  stand- 
ard of  abilities  as  to  be  within  the  compass  of 
numbers  in  every  country  to  perform,  and  there- 
fore cannot  merit  very  extraordinary  recom- 
pense.   "  Government/'  says  Swift,  "  is  a  plain 

IV-23  297 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

thing,  and  fitted  to  the  caimcity  of  many  heads/' 
It  is  inhuman  to  talk  of  a  million  sterling  a 
year,  paid  out  of  the  public  taxes  of  any  country, 
for  the  support  of  any  individual,  whilst  thou- 
sands, who  are  forced  to  contribute  thereto,  are 
pining  with  want,  and  struggling  with  misery. 
Government  does  not  consist  in  a  contrast  be- 
tween prisons  and  palaces,  between  poverty  and 
pomp ;  it  is  not  instituted  to  rob  the  needy  of  his 
mite,  and  increase  the  ^vretchedness  of  the 
wretched.  But  of  this  part  of  the  subject  I  shall 
speak  hereafter,  and  confine  myself  at  present 
to  political  observations. 

When  extraordinary  power  and  extraordi- 
nary pay  are  allotted  to  any  individual  in  a  gov- 
ernment, he  becomes  the  center,  round  which 
every  kind  of  corruption  generates  and  forms. 
Give  to  any  man  a  million  a  year,  and  add  thereto 
the  power  of  creating  and  disposing  of  places,  at 
the  expense  of  a  country,  and  the  liberties  of  that 
country  are  no  longer  secure.  What  is  called  the 
splendor  of  a  throne,  is  no  other  than  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  state.  It  is  made  up  of  a  band  of 
parasites,  living  in  luxurious  indolence,  out  of 
the  public  taxes. 

When  once  such  a  vicious  system  is  estab- 
lished, it  becomes  the  guard  and  protection  of  aU 
298 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

inferior  abuses.  The  man  who  is  in  the  receipt 
of  a  million  a  year  is  the  last  person  to  promote 
a  spirit  of  reform,  lest,  in  the  event,  it  should 
reach  to  himself.  It  is  always  his  interest  to  de- 
fend inferior  abuses,  as  so  many  outworks  to  pro- 
tect the  citadel,  and  in  this  species  of  political 
fortification,  all  the  parts  have  such  a  common 
dependence,  that  it  is  never  to  be  expected  they 
will  attack  each  other.* 

Monarchy  would  not  have  continued  so  many 
ages  in  the  world,  had  it  not  been  for  the  abuses 
it  protects.    It  is  the  master  fraud  which  shelters 

*It  is  scarcely  possible  to  touch  on  any  subject,  that  will  not 
suggest  an  allusion  to  some  corruption  in  governments.  The 
simile  of  "fortifications,"  unfortunately  involves  with  it  a  circum- 
stance, which  is  directly  in  point  with  the  matter  alluded  to. 

Among  the  numerous  instances  of  abuse  which  have  been  acted 
or  protected  by  governments,  ancient  or  modern,  there  is  not  a 
greater  than  that  of  quartering  a  man  and  his  heirs  upon  the 
l)ublic,  to  be  maintained  at  its  expense. 

Humanity  dictates  a  provision  for  the  poor;  but  by  what 
right,  moral  or  political,  does  any  government  assume  to  say,  that 
the  person  called  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  shall  be  maintained  by 
the  public?  Yet,  if  common  report  is  true,  not  a  beggar  in  Lon- 
don can  purchase  his  wretched  pittance  of  coal,  without  paying 
towards  the  civil  list  of  the  Duke  of  Richmond. 

Were  the  whole  produce  of  this  imposition  but  a  shilling  a 
year,  the  iniquitous  principle  would  be  still  the  same;  but  when 
it  amounts,  as  it  is  said  to  do,  to  not  less  than  twenty  thousand 
pounds  per  annum,  the  enormity  is  too  serious  to  be  permitted  to 
remain.    This  is  one  of  the  effects  of  monarchy  and  aristocracy. 

In  stating  this  case,  I  am  led  by  no  personal  dislike.  Though 
I  think  it  mean  in  any  man  to  live  upon  the  public,  the  vice 
originates  in  the  government;  and  so  general  is  it  become,  that 
whether  the  parties  are  in  the  ministry  or  in  the  opposition,  it 
makes  no  difference;  they  are  sure  of  the  guaranty  of  each  other. 

299 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

all  others.  By  admitting  a  participation  of  the 
spoil,  it  makes  itself  friends;  and  when  it  ceases 
to  do  this,  it  will  cease  to  be  the  idol  of  courtiers. 

As  the  principle  on  which  constitutions  are 
now  formed,  rejects  all  hereditary  pretensions  to 
government,  it  also  rejects  all  that  catalogue  of 
assumptions  known  by  the  name  of  prerogatives. 

If  there  is  any  government  where  preroga- 
tives might  with  apparent  safety  be  intrusted 
to  any  individual,  it  is  in  the  Federal  Government 
of  America.  The  President  of  the  United  States 
of  America  is  elected  only  for  four  years.  He  is 
not  only  responsible  in  the  general  sense  of  the 
word,  but  a  particular  mode  is  laid  down  in  the 
Constitution  for  trying  him.  He  camiot  be 
elected  under  thirty-five  years  of  age;  and  he 
must  be  a  native  of  the  country. 

In  a  comparison  of  these  cases  with  the  gov- 
ernment of  England,  the  difference  when  ap- 
plied to  the  latter  amounts  almost  to  an  absurd- 
ity. In  England,  the  person  who  exercises  this 
prerogative  is  often  a  foreigner;  always  half  a 
foreigner,  and  always  married  to  a  foreigner. 
He  is  never  in  full  natural  or  political  connection 
with  the  country,  is  not  responsible  for  any  thing, 
and  becomes  of  age  at  eighteen  years;  yet  such 
a  person  is  permitted  to  form  foreign  alliances, 
300 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

without  even  the  knowledge  of  the  nation ;  and  to 
make  war  and  peace  without  its  consent. 

But  this  is  not  all.  Though  such  a  person 
cannot  dispose  of  the  government,  in  the  manner 
of  a  testator,  he  dictates  the  marriage  connec- 
tions, which,  in  effect,  accomplishes  a  great  part 
of  the  same  end.  He  cannot  directly  bequeath 
half  the  government  to  Prussia,  but  he  can  form 
a  marriage  partnership  that  will  produce  the 
same  effect. 

Under  such  circumstances,  it  is  happy  for 
England  that  she  is  not  situated  on  the  Conti- 
nent, or  she  might,  hke  Holland,  fall  under  the 
dictatorship  of  Prussia.  Holland,  by  marriage, 
is  as  effectually  governed  by  Prussia,  as  if  the 
old  tyranny  of  bequeathing  the  government  had 
been  the  means. 

The  presidency  in  America,  (or,  as  it  is  some- 
times called,  the  executive,)  is  the  only  office 
from  which  a  foreigner  is  excluded ;  and  in  Eng- 
land, it  is  the  only  one  to  which  he  is  admitted. 
A  foreigner  cannot  be  a  member  of  Parliament, 
but  he  may  be  what  is  called  a  king.  If  there  is 
any  reason  for  excluding  foreigners,  it  ought  to 
be  from  those  offices  where  most  mischief  can  be 
acted,  and  where,  by  uniting  every  bias  of  inter- 
est and  attacliment,  the  trust  is  best  secured . 

301 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

But  as  nations  proceed  in  the  great  business 
of  forming  constitutions,  they  will  examine  with 
more  precision  into  the  nature  and  business  of 
that  department  which  is  called  the  executive. 
What  the  legislative  and  judicial  departments 
are,  every  one  can  see;  but  with  respect  to  what, 
in  Europe,  is  called  the  executive,  as  distinct 
from  those  two,  it  is  either  a  pohtical  superfluity, 
or  a  chaos  of  unknown  things. 

Some  kind  of  official  department,  to  which 
reports  shall  be  made  from  different  parts  of  the 
nation,  or  from  abroad,  to  be  laid  before  the  na- 
tional representatives,  is  all  that  is  necessary ;  but 
there  is  no  consistency  in  calling  this  the  execu- 
tive; neither  can  it  be  considered  in  any  other 
light  than  as  inferior  to  the  legislature.  The 
sovereign  authority  in  any  country  is  the  power 
of  making  laws,  and  every  thing  else  is  an  official 
department. 

Next  to  the  arrangement  of  the  principles 
and  the  organization  of  the  several  parts  of  a 
constitution,  is  the  provision  to  be  made  for  the 
support  of  the  persons  to  whom  the  nation  shall 
confide  the  administration  of  the  constitutional 
powers. 

A  nation  can  have  no  right  to  the  time  and 
services  of  any  person  at  his  own  expense,  whom 
302 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

it  may  choose  to  employ  or  intrust  in  any  depart- 
ment whatever;  neither  can  any  reason  be  given 
for  making  provision  for  the  support  of  any  one 
part  of  the  government  and  not  for  the  other. 

But,  admitting  that  the  honor  of  being  in- 
trusted with  any  part  of  a  government,  is  to  be 
considered  a  sufficient  reward,  it  ought  to  be  so 
to  every  person  ahke.  If  the  members  of  the 
legislature  of  any  country  are  to  serve  at  their 
own  expense,  that  which  is  called  the  executive, 
whether  monarchial,  or  by  any  other  name,  ought 
to  serve  in  like  manner.  It  is  inconsistent  to  pay 
the  one,  and  accept  the  service  of  the  other  gratis. 

In  America,  every  department  in  the  govern- 
ment is  decently  provided  for;  but  no  one  is  ex- 
travagantly paid.  Every  member  of  Congress, 
and  of  the  State  Assemblies,  is  allowed  a  suffi- 
ciency for  his  expenses.  Whereas,  in  England, 
a  most  prodigal  provision  is  made  for  the  sup- 
port of  one  part  of  the  government  and  none  for 
the  other;  the  consequence  of  which  is,  that  the 
one  is  furnished  with  the  means  of  corruption, 
and  the  other  is  put  into  the  condition  of  being 
corrupted.  Less  than  a  fourth  part  of  such  ex- 
pense, applied  as  it  is  in  America,  would  remedy 
a  great  part  of  the  corruption. 

Another  reform  in  the  American  Constitution 

303 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

is  the  exploding  all  oaths  of  personality.  The 
oath  of  allegiance  is  to  the  nation  only.  The 
putting  any  individual  as  a  figure  for  a  nation  is 
improper.  The  happiness  of  a  nation  is  the  first 
object,  and  therefore  the  intention  of  an  oath  of 
allegiance  ought  not  to  be  obscured  by  being  fig- 
uratively taken,  to,  or  in  the  name  of,  any  per- 
son. The  oath,  called  the  civic  oath,  in  France, 
viz.  the  '"^  nation  J  the  law,  and  the  king"  is  im- 
proper. If  taken  at  all,  it  ought  to  be  as  in 
America,  to  the  nation  only. 

The  law  may  or  may  not  be  good ;  but,  in  this 
place,  it  can  have  no  other  meaning,  than  as  be- 
ing conducive  to  the  happiness  of  the  nation,  and 
therefore  is  included  in  it.  The  remainder  of  the 
oath  is  improper,  on  the  ground  that  all  personal 
oaths  ought  to  be  abohshed.  They  are  the  re- 
mains of  tyranny  on  one  part,  and  slavery  on  the 
other ;  and  the  name  of  the  Creator  ought  not  to 
be  introduced  to  witness  the  degradation  of  his 
creation;  or  if  taken,  as  is  already  mentioned,  as 
figurative  of  the  nation,  it  is  in  this  place  redun- 
dant. 

But  whatever  apology  may  be  made  for  oaths 

at  the  first  establishment  of  a  government,  they 

ought  not  to  be  permitted  afterwards.     If  a 

government  requires  the  support  of  oaths,  it  is 

304 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

a  sign  that  it  is  not  worth  supporting,  and  ought 
not  to  be  supported.  INIake  government  what  it 
ought  to  be,  and  it  will  support  itself. 

To  conclude  this  part  of  the  subject: — One 
of  the  greatest  improvements  that  has  been  made 
for  the  perpetual  security  and  progress  of  consti- 
tutional liberty,  is  the  provision  which  the  new 
constitutions  make  for  occasionally  revising, 
altering  and  amending  them. 

The  principle  upon  which  Mr.  Burke  formed 
his  political  creed,  that  "  of  binding  and  control- 
ling posterity  to  the  end  of  time,  and  renouncing 
and  abdicating  the  rights  of  all  posterity  for 
ever"  is  now  become  too  detestable  to  be  made  a 
subject  for  debate;  and,  therefore,  I  pass  it  over 
with  no  other  notice  than  exposing  it. 

Government  is  but  now  beginning  to  be 
known.  Hitherto  it  has  been  the  mere  exercise 
of  power,  which  forbade  all  effectual  inquiry 
into  rights,  and  grounded  itself  wholly  on  pos- 
session. While  the  enemy  of  liberty  was  its 
judge,  the  progress  of  its  principles  must  have 
been  small  indeed. 

The  constitutions  of  America,  and  also  that 
of  France,  have  either  fixed  a  period  for  their 
revision,  or  laid  down  the  mode  by  which  im- 
provements shall  be  made. 

305 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

It  is  perhaps  impossible  to  establish  any  thing 
that  combines  principles  with  opinions  and  prac- 
tise, which  the  progress  of  circumstances,  through 
a  length  of  years,  will  not  in  some  measure  de- 
range, or  render  inconsistent;  and  therefore,  to 
prevent  inconveniences  accumulating,  till  they 
discourage  reformations  or  provoke  revolutions, 
it  is  best  to  regulate  them  as  they  occur. 

The  rights  of  man  are  the  rights  of  all  gen- 
erations of  men,  and  cannot  be  monopolized  by 
any.  That  which  is  worth  following,  will  be  fol- 
lowed for  the  sake  of  its  worth;  and  it  is  in  this 
that  its  security  lies,  and  not  in  any  conditions 
with  which  it  may  be  incumbered.  When  a  man 
leaves  property  to  his  heirs,  he  does  not  connect 
it  with  an  obligation  that  they  shall  accept  it. 
Why  then  should  we  do  otherwise  with  respect 
to  constitutions? 

The  best  constitution  that  could  now  be  de- 
vised, consistent  with  the  condition  of  the  present 
moment,  may  be  far  short  of  that  excellence 
which  a  few  years  may  afford.  There  is  a  morn- 
ing of  reason  rising  upon  man,  on  the  subject  of 
government,  that  has  not  appeared  before.  As 
the  barbarism  of  the  present  old  governments 
expires,  the  moral  condition  of  the  nations,  with 
respect  to  each  other,  will  be  changed. 
306 


WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

Man  will  not  be  brought  up  with  the  savage 
idea  of  considering  his  species  as  enemies,  be- 
cause the  accident  of  birth  gave  the  indi^n duals 
existence  in  countries  distinguished  by  different 
names;  and  as  constitutions  have  always  some 
relation  to  external  as  well  as  domestic  circum- 
stances, the  means  of  benefitting  by  every  change, 
foreign  or  domestic,  should  be  a  part  of  every 
constitution. 

We  already  see  an  alteration  in  the  national 
disposition  of  England  and  France  toward 
each  other,  which,  when  we  look  back  only  a  few 
years,  is  itself  a  revolution.  Who  could  have 
foreseen,  or  who  would  have  believed,  that  a 
French  National  Assembly  would  ever  have  been 
a  popular  toast  in  England,  or  that  a  friendly 
alliance  of  the  two  nations  should  become  the 
wish  of  either? 

It  shows,  that  man,  were  he  not  corrupted  by 
governments,  is  naturally  the  friend  of  man,  and 
that  human  nature  is  not  of  itself  vicious.  That 
spirit  of  jealousy  and  ferocity,  which  the  gov- 
ernments of  the  two  countries  inspired,  and  which 
they  rendered  subservient  to  the  purpose  of  tax- 
ation, is  now  yielding  to  the  dictates  of  reason, 
interest  and  humanity. 

The  trade  of  courts  is  beginning  to  be  under- 

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WRITINGS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE 

stood,  and  the  affectation  of  mystery,  with  all 
the  artificial  sorcery  by  which  they  imposed  upon 
mankind,  is  on  the  decline.  It  has  received  its 
death  wound;  and  though  it  may  hnger,  it  will 
expire. 

Government  ought  to  be  as  much  open  to 
improvement  as  anything  which  appertains  to 
man,  instead  of  which  it  has  been  monopolized 
from  age  to  age,  by  the  most  ignorant  and  vicious 
of  the  human  race.  Need  we  any  other  proof  of 
their  wretched  management,  than  the  excess  of 
debt  and  taxes  with  which  every  nation  groans, 
and  the  quarrels  into  which  they  have  precipi- 
tated the  world? 

Just  emerging  from  such  a  barbarous  condi- 
tion, it  is  too  soon  to  determine  to  what  extent 
of  improvement  government  may  yet  be  carried. 
For  what  we  can  foresee,  all  Europe  may  form 
but  one  great  republic,  and  man  be  free  of  the 
whole. 


308 


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